Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To utter a meaningless confusion of words or sounds: Babies babble before they can talk.
- v. To talk foolishly or idly; chatter: "In 1977 [he] was thought of as crazy because he was babbling about supply side” ( Newt Gingrich).
- v. To make a continuous low, murmuring sound, as flowing water.
- v. To utter rapidly and indistinctly.
- v. To blurt out impulsively; disclose without careful consideration.
- n. Inarticulate or meaningless talk or sounds.
- n. Idle or foolish talk; chatter.
- n. A continuous low, murmuring sound, as of flowing water.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To utter words imperfectly or indistinctly, as children do; prattle; jabber.
- To talk idly, irrationally, or thoughtlessly; chatter or prate heedlessly or mischievously.
- To make a continuous murmuring sound, as a stream; repeat a sound frequently and indistinctly.
- To utter incoherently or with meaningless iteration; repeat; prate.
- To utter foolishly or thoughtlessly; let out by babbling or prating: as, to babble a plot or a secret.
- n. Inarticulate speech, such as that of an infant; idle talk; senseless prattle; murmur, as of a stream.
- n. Synonyms See prattle, n.
Wiktionary
- n. Idle talk; senseless prattle; gabble; twaddle.
- n. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
- n. A sound of or alike that which of flowing water.
- v. intransitive To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds; as, a child babbles.
- v. intransitive To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.
- v. intransitive To talk much; to chatter; to prate.
- v. intransitive To make a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones.
- v. transitive To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat, as words, in a childish way without understanding.
- v. transitive To disclose by too free talk, as a secret.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds; as a child
babbles . - v. To talk incoherently; to utter unmeaning words.
- v. To talk much; to chatter; to prate.
- v. To make a continuous murmuring noise, as shallow water running over stones.
- v. To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat, as words, in a childish way without understanding.
- v. To disclose by too free talk, as a secret.
- n. Idle talk; senseless prattle; gabble; twaddle.
- n. Inarticulate speech; constant or confused murmur.
WordNet 3.0
- v. to talk foolishly
- v. utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way
- v. divulge confidential information or secrets
- n. gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby
- v. flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
Etymologies
- From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian ("to talk foolishly"), from Proto-Germanic *babalōnan (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”). Cognate with Old Frisian babbelje ("to babble"), Old Norse babbla ("to babble") (Swedish babbla), Middle Low German babbelen ("to babble"), Dutch babbelen ("to babble"), German pappeln and babbeln ("to babble"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English babelen. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I am sick of these women and their right win babble talk.”
“The babble is inane, but its heart is in the right place.”
“The outcome of her babble is either incoherent or a blatant lie.”
“In my study of the wholly babble, I think people have it wrong. the gawd described in the babble is hateful, vindictive, and petulant.”
“I'd have a tough time hearing the Billary babble from the White House.”
“David Brooks proves that right-wing psycho-babble is just as insipid and banal as any other kind.”
“Your psycho babble is almost pathological … maybe God in His infinite kindness and wisdom could help you with that.”
Think Progress » New Bush Policy: All Gays Should Be Celibate
“My dear Bondwoman, pretentious babble is becoming your trademark.”
“This started with a big yawn: Bush saying 'we will not waver' in its support of Iraq's new and fragile democracy ', which is just more babble from the Prez, same crap we've heard before, and about as effective as anything else he's babbled.”
“Links to this post literate babble is still babble”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘babble’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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SECOND LETTER A
Words in which the second letter is A
Aa, AAA, Baba, Babe, Babel, AAAA, tangential, baby, bach, back, bad, bade and 90 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
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sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
( randomness, descriptive )sigh, murmur, whisper, whir, rustle, patter, hum, snap, hiss(sss), crackle, bleat, peep and 185 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 125 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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I am : talking
"These are talking words," I announce. "You mean verbs that can be used for dialogue?" you ask. "That's right!" I agree.
say, speak, ask, declare, query, shout, yell, scream, shriek, squeal, squeak, screech and 81 more...
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Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
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GRE 3500
abase, abash, abate, aberrant, abeyance, abjure, ablution, abut, accede, accentuate, acerbity, acetic and 133 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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-bles
fine find endings
able, amble, bable, cable, cible, coble, dable, fable, gable, gible, tible, table and 241 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
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Inner B
Words with the letter b within the word, not just as the initial or last letter.
remember, maybe, able, unable, nimble, cable, reusable, thimble, cymbal, capable, tremble, enable and 143 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for babble.

bilby Here April comes like a drunkard, vomiting thunder and waking the morning after with a head full of dragonflies. Feb 27, 2009
lea April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay Feb 27, 2009