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Glite Dictionary
mouthful of marbles

mouthful of marbles

8.9
Speech that sounds unclear as if something is in the mouth
  • idiom
  • Informal
: hablar como si tuviera la boca llena
  • After his dental surgery, he sounded like he had a mouthful of marbles when he spoke.

Examples

  • Whenever he gets nervous, he talks as if he has a mouthful of marbles.

  • The phone connection was so bad, her words came across like a mouthful of marbles.

  • He spoke in a mouthful of marbles during the presentation.

  • Why does she always sound like a mouthful of marbles?

  • After his dental surgery, he sounded like he had a mouthful of marbles when he spoke.

  • The phone connection was so bad, her words came across like a mouthful of marbles.

  • Whenever he gets nervous, he talks as if he has a mouthful of marbles.

Synonyms

slurred
vsmouthful of marbles
13 6.0

Words spoken slowly and unclearly because someone is very tired, ill, or drunk

emphasizes a muffled obstruction feeling rather than medical causes
mumbling
vsmouthful of marbles
3 3.6

Speaking quietly and not clearly so people cannot understand

sounds as if something blocks the mouth making speech muffled

Antonyms

coherent
74 7.2

Clear and logical speaking or writing that is easy to understand

How Clear

clear
∞ 1.0
mouthful of marbles
  • Informal
8.9
mumbling
3 3.6
garbled
14 7.6

Surface Forms

mouthful of marbles singular
mouthfuls of marbles plural

Morphology

mouthful + of + marbles

The figurative meaning follows directly from the literal components: a 'mouthful' is something that fills the mouth and 'marbles' are small hard balls, so having a mouthful of marbles plausibly makes speech indistinct. This concrete, image-based mapping is easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words, so the expression is compositional and transparent.

Etymology

Mouthful of marbles comes from the clear picture of someone with a mouthful of marbles; the hard, round balls muffle the voice and make words roll together. That's why people use it to say speech is 'unclear' or 'hard to understand'.