Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A piece of unverified information of uncertain origin usually spread by word of mouth.
- n. Unverified information received from another; hearsay.
- v. To spread or tell by rumor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A confused and indistinct noise; a vague sound; a murmur.
- n. Flying or popular report; the common voice.
- n. A current report, with or without foundation; commonly, a story or statement passing from one person to another without any known authority for its truth; a mere report; a piece of idle gossip.
- n. Fame; reported celebrity; reputation.
- n. A voice; a message.
- n. Synonyms and Talk, gossip, hearsay.
- To report; tell or circulate by report; spread abroad.
Wiktionary
- n. countable A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.
- n. uncountable Information or misinformation of the kind contained in such claims.
- v. transitive To tell a rumor about; to gossip.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety.
- n. A current story passing from one person to another, without any known authority for its truth; -- in this sense often personified.
- n. obsolete A prolonged, indistinct noise.
- v. To report by rumor; to tell.
WordNet 3.0
- v. tell or spread rumors
- n. gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of mouth
Etymologies
- Middle English rumour, from the Latin rumor, common talk. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English rumour, from Old French, from Latin rūmor. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I have no details beyond this fuzzy photograph and the following details; that the rumor is the buck was killed in Robertson County near Mount Olivet.”
“The reference I hear the most when discussing this rumor is his performance as Achilles in Troy.”
Rumor: Brad Pitt in the Running for Thor? « FirstShowing.net
“ROWLANDS: Basically, that, as Carlos said, they're not going to comment to these what they call rumor, innuendos or sourced reporting.”
“I hope this rumor is as bad a joke as most of what comes out of Santorum's mouth is.”
“Ha Cong Tuan, an environmental affairs official, called on Vietnamese medical researchers to study what he called the "rumor" that rhino horn cures cancer and then publicize their findings.”
“Twitter Inc. Michael Arrington reported what he called a rumor on his technology blog TechCrunch Thursday night, saying Mountain View, Calif. -based Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) could pay more than”
Albuquerque Business News - Local Albuquerque News | New Mexico Business Weekly
“I'm not sure if he can drive but the rumor is that Stella Gonzoles drives him around and is a good buddy of his and is a board member.”
“HOWEVER, there will be a time to stress if this rumor is put to rest.”
“Somebody on another website said that the rumor is Rachelle Lefevre …. but I have no idea where they got the information.”
“One far reaching rumor is that Gyi rescued Catholic nuns who were held hostage by the North Vietnamese, then killed all the captors in hand to hand combat while working for the CIA.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rumor’.
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steffany(grade 2)
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base, beach and 127 more...
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jackgrade2
accident, agree, arrive, astronomy, atlas, attention, award, aware, balance, banner, bare, base and 127 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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Stuffie: Monging
Stuff you mong.
iron, war, fish, rumor, squid, word, scare, coster, cheese, hate, scandal, fear and 4 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Scriptie: The Two Towers
dampen, treacherous, black gate, man-flesh, precious, elvish, dwarf, pursuit, quarry, hobbit, sprinters, horse lords and 236 more...
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Scriptie: The Fellowship of the Ring
the world is changed, much that once wa..., great rings, immortal, dwarf lords, miners, craftsmen, three, seven, nine, deceived, dark lord and 216 more...
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Mid year exam
Unit 7 8 9 10 11
Brief, Beige, Fiery, foreign, conceited, leisure, superior, scholar, surrender, rumor, acre, barrier
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Gossiphoning
Psst!--Didja know?
nosy, snoopy, scuttlebutt, talebearing, echo chamber, tabloid, bruit, quidnunc, disinformation, rumor, interloper, meddler and 67 more...
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tokuda's Words
schadenfreude, capricious, mawkish, honor, lacuna, ennui, troglodyte, philistine, wastrel, aesthete, sybarite, libertine and 22 more...
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aubade I
some words
pulse, elusive, rumination, wisp, whisper, massacre, inertia, anhedonia, champagne, diaphanous, rumor, rife and 88 more...
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backroomr
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Yet Another Palaeographical Fable
Words found at wordnik.com for the poem "Yet Another Palaeographical Fable"
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rumor.

bilby I've heard that this word is a rumour. Oct 31, 2008