🥃 Making illegal alcohol 🤪 Foolish talk

moonshining

1 8.6

Foolish ideas or plans that are not serious

noun
/ˈmuːnˌʃaɪnɪŋ/

Archaic

: tonterías

Some people thought her business plan was just moonshining, but she proved them wrong.

Examples

That idea is pure moonshining!
Whenever he starts talking about his inventions, it sounds like moonshining to me.
The committee quickly dismissed his suggestions as pure moonshining with no practical value.
His plans for the project are just moonshining.
His idea for a flying car is just moonshining and not a practical solution.
I can't take her plans for a two-week vacation on Mars seriously; they're all moonshining.
The senator dismissed the proposal to build a giant statue of a potato as pure moonshining.

Synonyms

lunacy

vsmoonshining

22 7.5

Extremely foolish behavior that shows very poor judgment

refers to foolish plans or talk not extreme mental disorder

malarkey

vsmoonshining

Informal

13 8.8

Talk that is not true and tries to trick people

focuses on unrealistic or foolish ideas rather than insincere speech

poppycock

vsmoonshining

Informal

10 9.9

Silly talk that is not true

is broader, covering unrealistic plans or ideas as well as talk

Antonyms

real talk

Slang

9 7.7

An honest serious conversation about difficult or important things

How Realistic

battle-tested plan

3.9

moonshining

Archaic

1 8.6

fantasy

112 3.8

Surface Forms

moonshining singular

moonshinings plural

Morphology

moonshining = moonshine (opaque) = moon + shine + ing

The suffixation is regular, but the overall sense 'nonsense' is idiomatic and not predictable from moon + shine.

Etymology

The word moonshining for foolish or unrealistic ideas comes from the image of the moon and its 'shine' as something dreamy and not real. A helpful way to remember it is to think of such plans as 'moonlight' fantasies rather than practical steps.