babble

/ˈbæbəl/

/ˈbæbəl/

Other forms: babbled; babbles

To babble is to talk on and on without a particular goal. It might drive you crazy when your little sister babbles endlessly about her favorite video game.

Babble sounds like Babel, the Biblical tower where everyone was talking in their own language. Everyone was babbling without paying attention to their neighbors, like the kid who won’t stop talking about his trip to the water park three years ago. A stream or a brook can babble, too, but that’s more of a soothing sound of water against rocks. Babies gurgle, because they don’t have enough words to babble yet.

Definitions of babble

1. verb

   utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way
   “The old man is only babbling--don't pay attention”

   type of:

   mouth, speak, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize

   express in speech
2. verb

   talk foolishly
   “The two women babbled and crooned at the baby”

   synonyms: blather, blether, blither, smatter

   type of:

   blab, blabber, chatter, clack, gabble, gibber, maunder, palaver, piffle, prate, prattle, tattle, tittle-tattle, twaddle, yammer

   speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
3. verb

   divulge confidential information or secrets
   synonyms: babble out, blab, blab out, let the cat out of the bag, peach, sing, spill the beans, talk, tattle

   spill, talk

   reveal information

   type of:

   break, bring out, disclose, discover, divulge, expose, give away, let on, let out, reveal, unwrap

   make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
4. noun

   gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby
   synonyms: babbling, lallation

   type of:

   gibber, gibberish

   unintelligible talking
5. verb

   flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
   “babbling brooks”

   synonyms: bubble, burble, guggle, gurgle, ripple

   gurgle

   make sounds similar to gurgling water

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound