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I am worried that "nonsensual data" might come across as data that does not have a lot of erotic vibe....

BoZenKhaa
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4 Answers4

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Absolutely not!

The term you're looking for is nonsensical. As in "without sense".

Thanks for the chuckle, haha!

Mark
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    Oh ok! Thanks, that's the word! In my head, I thought "nonsense"->"nonsensual", but it did not feel quite right... :-) – BoZenKhaa Apr 22 '15 at 11:59
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    That would make sense logically, and if we didn't already have the word "sensual" in the English language that's what it would probably be instead. But yeah, nonsense data is nonsensical and boring old data that doesn't kiss on the first date is nonsensual! – Mark Apr 22 '15 at 12:02
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    Well, maybe I should throw away my nonsensical data (since it does not make sense anyway) and go get some sensual data.. – BoZenKhaa Apr 22 '15 at 12:15
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    Joined this just to upvote this question and answer. – Jesvin Jose Apr 22 '15 at 12:31
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    @aitchnyu welcome to the site! – DJMcMayhem Apr 22 '15 at 14:37
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    Yeah, nonsensical. As a native speaker can tell what you meant by context and similarity. I would have gotten a good laugh out of it though. – Zessa Apr 22 '15 at 15:38
  • There's nothing wrong with the term "nonsensual data", it just means something else: data not derived from the human senses. – Lee Daniel Crocker Apr 24 '15 at 17:53
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non·sen·si·cal

ˌnänˈsensək(ə)l/
adjective
1. having no meaning; making no sense.
"a nonsensical argument"
synonyms: meaningless, senseless, illogical
"her nonsensical way of talking"

J.R.
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Jean Desjardins
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    Welcome to ELL :-). Can you please edit your post to add a reference to a dictionary entry? It's a good answer, if it had a reference, I would certainly upvote it ;-) – Lucky Apr 22 '15 at 20:04
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    I feel bad that the accepted answer also has no reference, but it gets 37 votes while giving less information than this answer. – justhalf Apr 23 '15 at 02:44
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    @justhalf: the accepted answer does not seem to literally quote from a non-disclosed source. It's that unattributed quoting that is the problem - some would call that plagiarism. – oerkelens Apr 23 '15 at 09:17
  • @oerkelens: Can you advice me on this? The definition seems to be taken from Google Define by searching "nonsensical" in Google. Google doesn't seem to list the source, though. – justhalf Apr 23 '15 at 09:37
  • @justhalf - if you quote a definition from Google Define, then simply say as much. Don't leave the community wondering what dictionary you got your definition from. – J.R. Apr 23 '15 at 09:49
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    @J.R.: Can we edit the answer to include that it's from Google Define? It seems exactly the same, and this is the first answer for Jean Desjardins. – justhalf Apr 23 '15 at 09:54
  • @justhalf - Do you get the same synonyms listed there? Anyhow, we could edit it, but I think it would be best to let the OP come back and edit it themselves, based on these comments. If it's not edited after a few days, then an edit from a member would be prudent. – J.R. Apr 23 '15 at 10:02
  • @J.R.: It's exactly the same, even the IPA and the examples. But I agree it's best to wait for OP to edit. It's better if OP can give more explanation also why nonsensical will be a better choice than nonsensual =) – justhalf Apr 23 '15 at 10:06
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It is also entirely correct to say "nonsense data." In some cases it's actually better. If you were trying to produce data that was nonsense to feed into a program for testing purposes, I would expect it to just be called "nonsense data."

Mark Foskey
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  • I won't comment on the grammar of "feeding a program nonsense data to see what happens" , but I can concur that this is a very common usage in engineering in the U.S. – Adam Apr 24 '15 at 17:06
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As a developer, I would strongly recommend the term contrived for describing data that is without semantic value (e.g. 'lorem ipsum' text). To say something is contrived specifically conveys that it was created intentionally or artificially, which would perfectly explain the existence of data that is otherwise meaningless.

Steve Benner
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