Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To talk or chatter idly or meaninglessly; babble or prate.
- v. To utter or express by chattering foolishly or babbling.
- n. Idle or meaningless chatter; babble.
- n. A sound suggestive of such chattering; a babbling noise.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To talk artlessly and childishly; talk freely and idly, like a child; chatter; be loquacious; prate.
- To force or effect by talking; bring or lead by prattling.
- To utter in a babbling or childish manner.
- n. Artless or childish talk; hence, puerile loquacity; twaddle.
- n. Synonyms Prattle, Prating, Chat, Chatter, Babble, Tattle, Gossip, Gabble, Palaver, Twaddle, Gibberish, Jargon, Balderdash, Rigmarole. Prattle is generally harmless, if not pleasant, as the prattle of a child, or of a simple-minded person; prating now generally suggests the idea of boasting or talking above one's knowledge; chat is easy conversation upon light and agreeable subjects, as social chat beside an open fire; chatter is incessant or abundant talk, seeming rather foolish and sounding pretty much alike; babble or babbling is talk that is foolish to inaneness, as that of the drunkard (Prov. xxiii. 29); tattle is talk upon subjects that are petty, and especially such as breed scandal; gossip is the small talk of the neighborhood, especially upon personal matters, perhaps dealing with scandal; gabble is a contemptuous word, putting the talk upon the level of the sounds made by geese; palaver implies that the talk is either longer than is necessary, or wordy, or meant to deceive by flattery and plausibility; twaddle is mere silliness in talk; gibberish is mere sounds strung together without sense; jargon is talk that is unintelligible by the mingling of sounds or by the lack of meaning; balderdash is noisy nonsense; rigmarole is talk that has the form of sense, but is really incoherent, confused, or nonsensical.
Wiktionary
- v. to talk incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble.
- n. Silly, childish, talk; babble.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To talk much and idly; to prate; hence, to talk lightly and artlessly, like a child; to utter child's talk.
- v. To utter as prattle; to babble.
- n. Trifling or childish tattle; empty talk; loquacity on trivial subjects; prate; babble.
WordNet 3.0
- v. speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
- n. idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
Etymologies
- prate + -le (“early modern English frequentative suffix”) (Wiktionary)
- Frequentative of prate. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“THAT kind of instruction could save a life, whereas Violence Policy Cener prattle is only empty political rhetoric.”
“Hear its prattle, which is nothing but the mind beginning to stir!”
“He wouldn't have to listen to the "prattle" (ie, intelligent discussion which doesn't happen to agree with the pure B.S. Armey himself was spewing on the show) because ... why not, exactly?”
Steve Kettmann: Has Dick Armey Apologized Yet for Being a Pig to Joan Walsh?
“Expect to see more of this kind of prattle between these two unless one of them starts to stand for something more specific than they have thus far.”
“The key word is "prattle", whereas your contributions of course are the sparkling, enlightened conversation worthy of Henry Adams I.F. Stone, and Oscar Wilde.”
“So, tell me Jennifer, why did this superficial inquiry by a non-serious person who seeks a place in Mexico that does not even exist invite "prattle" from your more serious contributors?”
“Cassio is, moreover, good-looking, and he is a staff officer who knows how to please his commanding officer with his 'prattle', whereas Iago is a field officer, experienced in battle but not so adept at courtly shenanigans.”
“Then again, there came one of his old, departed Master Justyn's lessons: "Young Darian, your great speech is always mindless prattle to someone else, just as they are certain their prattle is a great speech.”
“In addition to the romantic elements above described, we have here also that page-prattle which is so characteristic of all Lyly's plays.”
“The talk coming from senior Tories - at least some of whom have the grace to squirm when questioned on this topic - suggesting that it's all terribly complicated, that it was a long time ago and that even SS members were, in some ways, themselves victims, is uncomfortably close to the kind of prattle we used to hear from those we called Holocaust revisionists.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘prattle’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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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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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Talk Talk
Words for Talking
( open list, randomness )squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 200 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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rolls off the tongue
Words you love saying because they feel and sound so good!
(Not to be conflated with words you love saying because they are onomatopoeic, I have another list for that)gubernatorial, predeliction, quibbling, propensity, proclivity, insidious, nebulous, garble, crabapple, piddling, prattle, wheedling and 11 more...
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tatterdemalion's list
chrysalis, colloquy, peroration, syncretism, dickering, gamelan, dictatress, adventurism, untenable, presumption of fa..., lovelorn, bawdily and 47 more...
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[Open] Frequentative
“A verb which denotes the frequent occurrence or repetition of an action, as . . . waggle from wag.” — Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
Other examples include bobble (bob), bustle (b...dartle, stutter, agitate, dabble, waggle, aid, argue, daunt, expect, excite, espouse, dictate and 77 more...
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Waffalage
waffle, confuzzled, boggle, aberrant, ploogie, kumquat, blether, witter, prattle, defenestrate, coprolite, rambutan and 14 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 481 more...
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onomatopoeic
warble, quibble, quirk, drudgery, chortle, snicker, galumph, thwart, schlock, whimsy, garble, miffed and 25 more...
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Trash Talk
Words that indicate meaningless, confusing or deceptive talk.
white noise, blarney, pidgin, jabber, bullshit, yadda yadda yadda, mishmash, farrago, gobbledygook, yammer, drivel, jargon and 18 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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Words Stephenie Meyer Overuses
A collection of words author Stephenie Meyer overuses and abuses in her 'Twilight' series of young adult vampire fiction. Every time you read one of these words in her books, you will GRIMACE and C...
chagrin, grimace, chuckle, smirk, whispered, lope, scintillating, marble, topaz, smoldering, smolder, perfect and 30 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Go over
mollify, obstinate, obviate, occlude, onerous, obscure, paragon, pedantic, perfunctory, placate, placid, prodigal and 364 more...
Tweets
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Prolagus What the great ones do, the less will prattle of.
(William Shakespeare) Mar 18, 2008