gubbins
noun
Simple meaning
Silly person; fool.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
guhbinzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡʌbɪnz
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
britishinformal
Assorted stuff, especially if of little value; tat.
ukinformal
Silly person; fool.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Assorted stuff, especially if of little value; tat.
Used this way, gubbins is a word tied to one variety of English with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Usage note
Mainly used in British English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.