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bollocks

noun · verb

Form of bollock , third-person singular of bollock.

Simple meaning

Nonsense or information deliberately intended to mislead.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bahluhks

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɑləks

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Nonsense or information deliberately intended to mislead.

  2. used as singular

    An idiot, an ignorant or disagreeable person.

  3. The testicles (sometimes used in the singular)

  4. Ellipsis of the dog's bollocks.

verb

  1. also bollocks up

    To fail (a task); to make a mess of.

  2. To break.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To fail (a task); to make a mess of.

Used this way, bollocks is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Critical but measured

Nearby words

  • botch , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

talking bollockscomplete bollockstotal bollocksfucking bollocksutter bollocksbollocks like

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • bollocks upverbCompound term

    Make a mess of, destroy or ruin.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to fail (a task)

botchRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.