confabulation

American  

[kuhn-fab-yuh-ley-shuhn] / kənˌfæb yəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of confabulating; conversation; discussion.

   One night, over a beer, Jake and I got into a confabulation on the world and life in general, and Jake's affairs in particular.

2. Psychiatry, Psychology.  the replacement of a gap in a person's memory by a falsification that they believe to be true.

   The report concluded that while the information elicited under hypnosis may be accurate, it may also include confabulations and pseudomemories.

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Other Word Forms

• confabulatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of confabulation

First recorded in 1490–1500; from Late Latin confabulātiōn- (stem of confābulātiō ) “conversation,” equivalent to confābulāt(us) ( confabulate ) + -iōn- noun suffix; -ion

Example Sentences

Future Western historians and writers, from Aristotle to Marco Polo, scoffed at Ctesias’ confabulations, while grudgingly referencing them as well.

From New York Times

So why do we keep trying, especially when so much of what constitutes our putative public memory is toxic confabulation?

From Washington Post

Confronted with questions about this obvious double standard at a news conference on Monday afternoon, Trump unleashed his usual arsenal of confabulation, denying the underlying reality and attacking the media.

From Salon

Our memories are likely already being contaminated by the false information that circulates online, or family members with a propensity for confabulation.

From The Guardian

It’s a particularly compelling hypothesis for Britain, a country still reeling from a public referendum whose outcome was determined by viral confabulations of the most pernicious kind.

From Nature