babble
Americanverb (used without object)
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babbles,
present (3rd person singular)
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babbled,
past participle, past
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babbling
present participle
verb (used with object)
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babbles,
present (3rd person singular)
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babbled,
past participle, past
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babbling
present participle
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to utter in an incoherent, foolish, or meaningless fashion.
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to reveal foolishly or thoughtlessly.
to babble a secret.
noun
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inarticulate or imperfect speech.
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foolish, meaningless, or incoherent speech; prattle.
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a murmuring sound or a confusion of sounds.
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Telecommunications. a confused mixture of extraneous sounds in a circuit, resulting from cross talk from other channels.
verb
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to utter (words, sounds, etc) in an incoherent or indistinct jumble
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(intr) to talk foolishly, incessantly, or irrelevantly
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(tr) to disclose (secrets, confidences, etc) carelessly or impulsively
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(intr) (of streams, birds, etc) to make a low murmuring or bubbling sound
noun
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incoherent or foolish speech; chatter
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a murmuring or bubbling sound
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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babblesimple
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babblessimple
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have babbledperfect
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has babbledperfect
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am babblingprogressive
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are babblingprogressive
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is babblingprogressive
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have been babblingperfect progressive
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has been babblingperfect progressive
Past
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babbledsimple
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had babbledperfect
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was babblingprogressive
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were babblingprogressive
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had been babblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of babble
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English babelen; cognate with Old Norse babbla, Dutch babbelen, German pappelen
Explanation
To babble is to talk on and on without a particular goal. It might drive you crazy when your little sister babbles endlessly about her favorite video game. Babble sounds like Babel, the Biblical tower where everyone was talking in their own language. Everyone was babbling without paying attention to their neighbors, like the kid who won’t stop talking about his trip to the water park three years ago. A stream or a brook can babble, too, but that’s more of a soothing sound of water against rocks. Babies gurgle, because they don’t have enough words to babble yet.
Vocabulary lists containing babble
Instead of "Said": Words That Sound Like What They Mean
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Instead he softened the blow with corporate babble: “You were building the plane while you flew it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Behind me, a child began to giggle—then babble, then laugh again.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2026
Above us swallows dart through the air, Graeme takes a picture of a damsel fly and the brook to our side continues to babble.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2024
It frustrates smart readers because invariably the answer is "yes" yet the rationale is typically incoherent babble.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2024
He started to babble: "You—I ... We must... this to-day—" Mai came to the rescue.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
A pond babbles outside the window, and a garden of succulents climbs up to claim the wooden exterior walls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2022
I listened to their babbles and tried to echo the sounds I heard.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2022
As he babbles "cat" and "duck", I wish I could hear him without the whistling.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2022
He seethes, raves, mumbles and babbles, summoning thunderstorms of eloquence from intimate whispers.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
She babbles on about her classes while I ruin leaf after red leaf.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Meanwhile, Whoopi stepped up the blotting, offering comforting words to Jones while Behar babbled on in her own defense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
I spent days pressing a light-up toy when we said his name to draw his attention and babbled incessantly in his face so he could copy my lip patterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
German reports said Arthur E was a diamond trader who had "babbled like a brook" after his arrest.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2023
She was charismatic and charming; I babbled on like a teenager meeting an onscreen idol.
From Salon ● May 25, 2023
She babbled on, and Ivy nodded and smiled, trying to figure out what just happened.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
In the book, most homes have parlor walls with huge video screens that broadcast streams of babbling commentary for both entertainment and manipulation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The phrase echoed the one I had spoken years earlier to a babbling toddler in a Baltimore church.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2026
"America is a big place with 350 plus million people all babbling over their identity and their agency and those struggles create interesting patterns," he says.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
“He was rambling, babbling on about crowd sizes and immigration and President Joe Biden and whatever else seemed to pass through his mind,” he wrote.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2024
Even the river’s babbling sounded like the call of a liquid throat waiting, just waiting for them.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
