Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

babble

Pronunciation: /ˈbab(ə)l/

Translate babble | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of babble

verb

[no object]
  • 1talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way:they babbled on about their holiday
  • [reporting verb] utter something rapidly and incoherently: [with direct speech]:‘Thank goodness you’re all right,’ she babbled
  • reveal something secret or confidential by talking carelessly:he babbled to another convict while he was in jail
  • 2 (usually as adjective babbling) (of a stream) make the continuous murmuring sound of water flowing over stones:a gently babbling brook

noun

  • 1 [in singular] the confused sound of a group of people talking simultaneously:a babble of protest
  • foolish, excited, or confused talk:her soft voice stopped his babble
  • [mass noun] background disturbance caused by interference from conversations on other telephone lines.
  • 2the continuous murmuring sound of water flowing over stones in a stream:the babble of a brook

Derivatives

babblement

noun

Origin:

Middle English: from Middle Low German babbelen, or an independent English formation, as a frequentative based on the repeated syllable ba, typical of a child's early speech

babble in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of babble in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

merrythought

/ /
noun
the wishbone of a bird …