Link Centre Dictionary

mumble

UK/ˈmʌmbəl/ US/ˈmʊmbəl/ uncommon

verb

1.
2.

grind with the gums; chew without teeth and with great difficulty

  • “the old man had no teeth left and mumbled his food”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English momelen, a frequentative of mum (sense 3) (“silent”). Compare German mümmeln, Middle Dutch mommelen and Dutch mompelen. Perhaps related to Norwegian Nynorsk mumpa (“to gum, to chew without teeth”).

Phrases

  • mumble rap
  • mumblety peg

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.