word salad

noun

1
psychology : unintelligible, extremely disorganized speech or writing manifested as a symptom of a mental disorder (such as schizophrenia)
Damage to Wernicke's area can result in the loss of semantic associations … . Trying to speak results in garbled, nonsensical juxtapositions that neuroscientists call "word salad".Duncan Graham-Rowe
2
: a string of empty, incoherent, unintelligible, or nonsensical words or comments
In the moments when the debate wasn't in circus form it seemed very conventional and very one-sided, with one candidate who could give complete, coherent and informed answers about issues and the other who specialized in word salad.Robert Schlesinger
… composed an essay that was a word salad of solemn academic jargon.George Will

Examples of word salad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Early in the campaign, her answers to tough questions often devolved into word salad. Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024 A little personal attack here, a lot of lying there, plenty of word salad in the middle. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 2 Oct. 2024 This erroneous word salad — which was widely mocked on social media afterwards — and the rhetoric of the debate in general was top of mind for Ferrell and Steele the next day. Lauren Huff, EW.com, 27 Sep. 2024 For those looking for word salads, Harris served up few, if any, during her matchup with Pence. Haisten Willis, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for word salad 

Word History

First Known Use

1904, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of word salad was in 1904

Dictionary Entries Near word salad

Cite this Entry

“Word salad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/word%20salad. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

Medical Definition

word salad

noun
word sal·​ad -ˌsal-əd How to pronounce word salad (audio)
: a jumble of extremely incoherent speech as sometimes observed in schizophrenia
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