What does "muggle" mean?
Marijuana.
Muggle
/ˈmʌɡl̩/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Marijuana.
- Grammar: muggle is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: demeaning label, layperson, marijuana, nonexpert.
- Useful contrasts: expert, insider, magical.
- Usage evidence: The sport of Muggle Quidditch is becoming increasingly popular around the world, particularly on university campuses.
How to use "muggle"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "muggle" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "muggle" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "muggle" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "muggle" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "muggle" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "demeaning label" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "muggle", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Marijuana. dated, in-plural, slang, uncountable
"But there was a drug in New Orleans, although it took me over nine months to find out anything about it—a drug of a very different and insidious kind! [...] It looked like chopped hay, or dried clover, and was rolled up in a double brown cigarette paper. In short, a "muggles", "weed", or "mootie", cannabis indica, Indian hemp, or, to give it its Mexican name, marijuana, which translated into English just means Mary Jane!"
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of Muggle.; A person who has no magical abilities. dated, slang
"The magical and the muggle are separated by a river, wide and deep. I could see across, but I couldn't get across, [...]."
- 3 A person who has no magical abilities.
"The magical and the muggle are separated by a river, wide and deep. I could see across, but I couldn't get across, [...]."
- 4 A marijuana cigarette; a joint. countable, dated, slang
"Marijuana is a variety of hemp weed (Cannabis sativa) long common in Mexico, lately becoming common in the U. S. Its leaves can be dried, ground and rolled into cigarets, which are bootlegged under the name of "muggles," "reefers," or "Mary Warners." Thinner, shorter than standard cigarets, "muggles" are made from the small delicate leaves of the female marijuana plant."
- 5 Alternative letter-case form of Muggle.; A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; also, a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider. broadly, dated, slang
"Some activists might know little of this ‘exterior’, such is their facility to move between activist spaces and places without having to encounter the ever-increasingly one-dimensional world in which the ‘muggles’ live."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; (also) a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider or cowan. broadly
"This video game won’t appeal to muggles."
- 7 Alternative letter-case form of Muggle.; A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; also, a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider.; A person not involved in the pastime of geocaching. broadly, dated, slang, specifically
"Try not to let the muggles see you find a Cache."
- 8 A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; (also) a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider or cowan.; A person not involved in the pastime of geocaching. broadly
"At some point when you're out geocaching, you'll run into Muggles. The trouble with Muggles is they have no idea what the sport of geocaching is all about. If they see you find a cache, they might get into the cache after you leave—to see what you were up to."
Verb
- 1 To deface, destroy, or remove a geocache. dated, slang, transitive
"Okay, September 3. That was just last Monday—Labor Day—so the geocache had been muggled sometime during the past week."
- 2 Often followed by along: to live or work in an unorganized and unplanned way; to muddle along. Ireland, UK, dated, dialectal, intransitive, slang
"And zo thay muggled along, 'till tha volks all begun to make giame on them."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The sport of Muggle Quidditch is becoming increasingly popular around the world, particularly on university campuses."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "muggle"?
Common synonyms include: demeaning label, layperson, marijuana, nonexpert, nonmagical, nonmagical person.
How do you use "muggle" in a sentence?
The sport of Muggle Quidditch is becoming increasingly popular around the world, particularly on university campuses.
How do you pronounce "muggle"?
Pronounced /ˈmʌɡl̩/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Origin unknown; first known to have come into use in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., in the mid-1920s.
Etymology 2
See Muggle. The verb sense (“to deface a geocache”) derives from the fact that people interfering with such items are assumed not to be geocachers: see the noun sense 1.2.1.
Etymology 3
Origin unknown; attested in Berkshire, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, the West Country, Wiltshire, and Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. The word is possibly a variant of muddle.
Etymology 4
From mug (“gullible or easily cheated person”) + -le (diminutive suffix), coined by British author J. K. Rowling in her 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. She later said in a 2004 interview that the word was made to imply both "foolishness and loveability".