"malarkey" means: Nonsense; rubbish.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
malarkey
(originally, US, informal) Nonsense; rubbish.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1877 · 1 year of recorded useSeen in the wild
I posted that in a Discord server. It was well received. Someone pointed out that Cohen apparently has a clause in his contract that gets him lots of money if the stocks hit a certain threshold. So he may just be tryi…
Honestly, I hate all this grooming malarkey. Not as much as I hate going to a hairdressers or barbers though, unfortunately.
"I'm going to blame the Democrats for things that the Republicans are doing because of my own personal view of the world" is some peak Bill Maher malarkey, I gotta say
Definitions
(originally, US, informal) Nonsense; rubbish.
“I posted that in a Discord server. It was well received. Someone pointed out that Cohen apparently has a clause in his contract that gets him lots of money if the stocks hit a certain threshold. So he may just be trying to manipulate the stocks with all this malarkey.”
“Honestly, I hate all this grooming malarkey. Not as much as I hate going to a hairdressers or barbers though, unfortunately.”
“"I'm going to blame the Democrats for things that the Republicans are doing because of my own personal view of the world" is some peak Bill Maher malarkey, I gotta say”
I decided it was a bunch of malarkey and stopped reading about halfway through.
"malarkey" means: Nonsense; rubbish.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
"malarkey" means: Nonsense; rubbish.. Register: informal slang, fine in casual conversation, texting and social media but not in academic essays, business writing or formal speech. Note the regional or dialect label (US) — usage may sound odd outside that variety. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
“I posted that in a Discord server. It was well received. Someone pointed out that Cohen apparently has a clause in his contract that gets him lots of money if the stocks hit a certain threshold. So he may just be trying to manipulate the stocks with all this malarkey.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Honestly, I hate all this grooming malarkey. Not as much as I hate going to a hairdressers or barbers though, unfortunately.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“"I'm going to blame the Democrats for things that the Republicans are doing because of my own personal view of the world" is some peak Bill Maher malarkey, I gotta say”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🗺️About Regional & Other slang
Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.
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