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

Something to chew on: Should dinner be the smallest meal of the day? ARTS AND IDEAS Video Not just word salad Picture a high-end menu: sparse text, small font, silly-sounding dishes. —Natasha Frost, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025

The Jaguar rebrand is either a bold vision of the future or an impenetrable word salad. —Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 12 Feb. 2025

In other words, at a moment of peril for his country, Colombia’s president posted a word salad—and then pinned it to the top of his X account. —Quico Toro, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2025

Bell's word salad statements are less than white noise. —C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic, 19 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1904, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for word salad

• ballad
• pallid
• valid

Medical Definition

word salad

noun

word sal·​ad -ˌsal-əd 

: a jumble of extremely incoherent speech as sometimes observed in schizophrenia