babbling
[bab-ling]
- foolish or meaningless chatter; prattle: the constant babbling of idle gossips.
- the random production of meaningless vocal sounds characteristic of infants after about the sixth week.
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- chattering or prattling aimlessly.
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Origin of babbling
babble
[bab-uh l]
- to utter sounds or words imperfectly, indistinctly, or without meaning.
- to talk idly, irrationally, excessively, or foolishly; chatter or prattle.
- to make a continuous, murmuring sound.
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- to utter in an incoherent, foolish, or meaningless fashion.
- to reveal foolishly or thoughtlessly: to babble a secret.
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- inarticulate or imperfect speech.
- foolish, meaningless, or incoherent speech; prattle.
- a murmuring sound or a confusion of sounds.
- babbling(def 2).
- Telecommunications. a confused mixture of extraneous sounds in a circuit, resulting from cross talk from other channels.Compare cross talk(def 1).
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Origin of babble
1200–50; Middle English babelen; cognate with Old Norse babbla, Dutch babbelen, German pappelen
Synonyms
See more synonyms for babble on Thesaurus.com2. chitchat, gabble, drivel, blather. 3. murmur, gurgle, burble.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for babbling
Contemporary Examples
Language was no barrier; just about every tongue on the planet was babbling away, caught up in the elaborate mystique of a cult.
I realize now that I spoke to her in paragraphs, babbling on and on, while she talked sparingly but concisely.
Children splash around in the babbling river where the infection began, women washing and bathing on rocks in the sun.
There was no babbling brook in the background—just the sound of New York traffic.
Historical Examples
Her eyes were alight, and she was babbling away to her aunt.
The Incomplete AmoristE. Nesbit
You're afraid of my making you split upon some of your babbling just now, are you, Sneak?'
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
Or if he did, he was diplomatic enough not to jeopardize his post by babbling of it to me.
Plainly the babblers were approaching along that entry and babbling as they came.
Fair HarborJoseph Crosby Lincoln
It was his babbling about Dom Diego that had ruined the genial old physician.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
babble
- to utter (words, sounds, etc) in an incoherent or indistinct jumble
- (intr) to talk foolishly, incessantly, or irrelevantly
- (tr) to disclose (secrets, confidences, etc) carelessly or impulsively
- (intr) (of streams, birds, etc) to make a low murmuring or bubbling sound
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- incoherent or foolish speech; chatter
- a murmuring or bubbling sound
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Word Origin
C13: compare Dutch babbelen, Swedish babbla, French babiller to prattle, Latin babulus fool; probably all of imitative origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for babbling
babble
v.
mid-13c., babeln "to prattle, chatter," akin to other Western European words for stammering and prattling (cf. Swedish babbla, Old French babillier) attested from the same era, some of which probably were borrowed from others, but etymologists cannot now determine which were original. Probably imitative of baby-talk, in any case (cf. Latin babulus "babbler," Greek barbaros "non-Greek-speaking"). "No direct connexion with Babel can be traced; though association with that may have affected the senses" [OED]. Meaning "to repeat oneself incoherently, speak foolishly" is attested from c.1400. Related: Babbled; babbling.
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babble
n.
"idle talk," c.1500, from babble (v.). In 16c., commonly in reduplicated form bibble-babble.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper