babble
Plural: babbles
Noun
- gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby
- Idle talk; senseless prattle
- Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
- A sound like that of water gently flowing around obstructions.
Verb
Verb Forms: babbled, babbling, babbles
- To talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish or incomprehensible way.
- utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way
- to talk foolishly
- "The two women babbled and crooned at the baby"
- flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
- divulge confidential information or secrets
- To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds
- To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.
- To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.
- To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.
- To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.
- To reveal; to give away (a secret).
Examples
- Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.
- I babble with delight whenever I draw both a J and a Z.
- The men were babbling, so we couldn't make sense of anything.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-West Germanic *bablōn, *wablōn, variants of *babalōn, from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoeic/mimicry of infantile sounds (compare babe, baby).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), West Frisian babbelje (“to babble”), Dutch babbelen (“to babble, chat”), German Low German babbeln (“to babble”), German babbeln (“to babble”), Danish bable, bavle (“to babble”), Swedish babbla (“to babble”), Icelandic babla (“to babble”). Unrelated to Babel.
Synonyms
babble out, babbling, blab, blab out, blather, blether, blither, bubble, burble, guggle, gurgle, lallation, let the cat out of the bag, peach, ripple, sing, smatter, spill the beans, talk, tattle, gabble, twaddle
Antonyms
keep quiet
Scrabble Score: 12
babble: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbabble: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
babble: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary