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Definition of mumbo jumbo noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

mumbo jumbo

noun
 
/ˌmʌmbəʊ ˈdʒʌmbəʊ/
 
/ˌmʌmbəʊ ˈdʒʌmbəʊ/
[uncountable] (informal, disapproving)
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  1. language or a ceremony that seems complicated and important but is actually without real sense or meaning synonym nonsense
    • religious/medical/bureaucratic mumbo jumbo
    • I won’t have anything to do with spiritualism, ghosts and all that mumbo jumbo.
    Word Originmid 18th cent. (as Mumbo Jumbo, denoting a supposed African idol): of unknown origin; the current sense dates from the late 19th cent.
previously
adverb
 
 
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