prate

American  

[preyt] / preɪt /

verb (used without object)

prated, prating

1. to talk excessively and pointlessly; babble.

   They prated on until I was ready to scream.

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verb (used with object)

prated, prating

1. to utter in empty or foolish talk.

   to prate absurdities with the greatest seriousness.

noun

1. act of prating.

2. empty or foolish talk.

prate British  

/ preɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to talk idly and at length; chatter

2. (tr) to utter in an idle or empty way

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noun

1. idle or trivial talk; prattle; chatter

Other Word Forms

• prater
  noun
• pratingly
  adverb
• unprating
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of prate

1375–1425; late Middle English praten (v.) < Middle Dutch praeten. See prattle

Explanation

To prate means to talk on and on about something. While it may be interesting to hear about other people’s vacations, when they prate about them until the wee hours, it becomes intolerable. There are more than a few instances where the famous have discouraged prating. Nursing great Clara Barton discouraged prating about “moral influences” when she encouraged a cigarette and a good, stiff glass of whiskey for Civil War soldiers. Herman Melville warned against mocking a lover’s wounded heart, saying “the stabbed man knows the steel; prate not to him that it is only a tickling feather.”

Example Sentences

“At the moment we cannot do without L.N.G.,” said Augustin Prate, vice president for energy and commodities at Kayrros, a Paris-based research firm.

From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2022

"It's built up for about, I would say, five to six weeks," says Augustin Prate, vice president of energy and commodity markets at Kayrros, one of many observers who has watched the situation unfold.

From BBC • Oct. 24, 2022

The detective who arrested him, Michael Prate, said, “He absolutely did it.”

From New York Times • Sep. 21, 2012

Prate not of failing hopes, of fading flowers; Whine not in melancholy, plaintive lays, Of joys departed, vanished sunny hours; A cheerful heart turns every thing to praise.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, June, 1862 Devoted To Literature and National Policy by Various

Prate your old prophecies to the fools who believe you.

From Sharing Her Crime by Fleming, May Agnes