Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaningful loquacity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: waffle, babble
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To talk much and to little purpose; to be loquacious; to speak foolishly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: ambitransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: blabber, babble, bat the breeze, blab, blather, carp, chat, chatter, chew the fat, chew the rag, chinwag, chit-chat, chunner, clack, claver, clepe, drivel, jabber, gabble, gibber, go on, maunder, natter, palaver, piffle, prate, prattle, rabbit, rabbit on, ramble, shoot the breeze, shoot the bull, shoot the shit, smatter, tattle, twaddle, waffle, wibble, witter, yabber, yack, yatter, yap
Antonyms: none provided
noun
idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: prattle, idle talk, blether, chin music
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: yak, yack, yakety-yak, chatter, cackle
verb
speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: chatter, piffle, palaver, tittle-tattle, twaddle, clack, maunder, prattle, blab, gibber, tattle, blabber, gabble
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: talk, speak, utter, mouth, verbalize, verbalise
Narrower terms: babble, blather, smatter, blether, blither
History
From Middle English praten; either inherited from Old English prætt or borrowed via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German praten (from Old Saxon *pratt), all from Proto-West Germanic *prattu, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *prattuz (“idle or boastful talk, deceit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bred- (“to wander, rove”). Related to Dutch praten (“to talk, chat”), Low German praten, dated German pfrassen, Danish prate, Swedish prata (“to talk, prate”), Faroese práta (“to talk, gossip”), Icelandic prata;; also cognate with Polish bredzić (“to rave, jabber”), Latvian bradāt (“to talk nonsense”).
Across languages
30 source translations are retained for this English entry.
