confabulate

[ kuhn-fab-yuh-leyt ]
See synonyms for: confabulateconfabulator on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object),con·fab·u·lat·ed, con·fab·u·lat·ing.
  1. to converse informally; chat.

  2. Psychiatry. to replace a gap in one's memory by a falsification that one believes to be true; engage in confabulation.

Origin of confabulate

1
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin confābulātus (past participle of confābulārī “to talk together, discuss”); see con-, fable, -ate1

Other words from confabulate

  • con·fab·u·la·tor, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for confabulate

confabulate

/ (kənˈfæbjʊˌleɪt) /


verb(intr)
  1. to talk together; converse; chat

  2. psychiatry to replace the gaps left by a disorder of the memory with imaginary remembered experiences consistently believed to be true: See also paramnesia

Origin of confabulate

1
C17: from Latin confābulārī, from fābulārī to talk, from fābula a story; see fable

Derived forms of confabulate

  • confabulation, noun
  • confabulator, noun
  • confabulatory, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012