prattle
English
Etymology
From prate + -le (“early modern English frequentative suffix”). Compare Dutch pruttelen and Dutch preutelen (“to mutter”).
Pronunciation
Verb
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- (transitive, intransitive) To speak incessantly and in a childish manner; to babble.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prattle
- 1952, Daphne Du Maurier, “Monte Verità”, in The Apple Tree:
- I looked across at Anna, and I noticed that her eyes had grown strangely blank, without expression. I felt instinctively that the subject brought up by Victor was one she would not have chosen. Victor, insensitive to this, went prattling on.
Derived terms
Translations
to talk incessantly; to babble
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Noun
prattle (uncountable)
- Silly, childish talk; babble.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense, Thesaurus:chatter
- c. 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act I, scene I, line 27
- Mere prattle without practice is all his soldiership.
Translations
babble
References
- prattle, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000)
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “prattle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.