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# fiddlesticks

«fiddlesticks» in Mova's school dictionary: **a gentle exclamation of annoyance, used instead of a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

exclamation (fiddlesticks!); noun (old: fiddlestick, fiddlesticks)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (mild, old-fashioned) a gentle exclamation of annoyance, used instead of a swear word: «Oh, fiddlesticks!» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#m1)

2) (old-fashioned) nonsense: «Fiddlesticks! That's not true.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#m2)

3) (literal, rare) the bow used to play a fiddle (violin). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

A very mild, quaint, often funny stand-in for swearing, used by grandparents, cartoon characters and people who don't want to swear in front of children. Old-fashioned, humorous, UK and US.

### examples

- Oh, fiddlesticks, I've dropped my glasses again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x1)
- "Fiddlesticks!" cried Granny when the cake sank. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x2)
- Fiddlesticks, it's raining and I forgot my brolly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x3)
- "You're too old to climb trees." "Fiddlesticks!" said Grandad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x4)
- The cartoon mouse squeaked, "Fiddlesticks!" [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x5)
- Miss Brown says "fiddlesticks" instead of swearing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x6)
- Fiddlesticks! I've missed the bus. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x7)
- "Fiddlesticks" sounds so silly that everyone laughed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/#x8)

### note

Trap: it is not rude at all; it sounds funny and old. It can mean «nonsense» when someone disagrees. Plain words: «oh no», «damn», «rubbish».

### In the corpora

- ["Fiddlesticks!" is an old-fashioned mild word for annoyance instead of a real swear.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/39-pardon-my-french/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «fiddlesticks» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fiddlesticks/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.