fiddle-faddle

noun

fid·​dle-fad·​dle ˈfi-dᵊl-ˌfa-dᵊl 

: nonsense

—often used as an interjection

Synonyms

• applesauce [slang]
• balderdash
• baloney
• boloney
• beans
• bilge
• blah
• blah-blah
• blarney
• blather
• blatherskite
• blither
• bosh
• bull [slang]
• bunk
• bunkum
• buncombe
• claptrap
• codswallop [British]
• crapola [slang]
• crock
• drivel
• drool
• fiddle
• fiddlesticks
• flannel [British]
• flapdoodle
• folderol
• falderal
• folly
• foolishness
• fudge
• garbage
• guff
• hogwash
• hokeypokey
• hokum
• hoodoo
• hooey
• horsefeathers [slang]
• humbug
• humbuggery
• jazz
• malarkey
• malarky
• moonshine
• muck
• nerts [slang]
• nonsense
• nuts
• piffle
• poppycock
• punk
• rot
• rubbish
• senselessness
• silliness
• slush
• stupidity
• taradiddle
• tarradiddle
• tommyrot
• tosh
• trash
• trumpery
• twaddle

Examples of fiddle-faddle in a Sentence

a grandmother who routinely pooh-poohed the advice of the so-called experts in child care as so much fiddle-faddle

Recent Examples on the Web

Maybe this premise sounds like pseudo-philosophical fiddle-faddle. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

reduplication of fiddle (fiddlesticks)

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fiddle-faddle

• remodel
• caudal
• caudle
• dawdle
• model
• twaddle
• waddle