blab
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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idle, indiscreet chattering.
-
a person who blabs; blabbermouth.
verb
-
to divulge (secrets) indiscreetly
-
(intr) to chatter thoughtlessly; prattle
noun
Other Word Forms
- blabbing noun
Etymology
Origin of blab
1325–75; Middle English blabbe (noun), perhaps back formation from blaberen to blabber; cognate with Old Norse blabbra, German plappern
Explanation
To blab is to gossip about or reveal a secret you promised to keep. You might accidentally blab to your dad about your brother getting in trouble at school. A reporter could take you by surprise and get you to blab about your movie star neighbor, and it might be hard for a little kid not to blab about the birthday gift he's giving his sister. Another way to blab is simply to talk a lot: "I sat there and listened to him blab about all the famous people he knows." Blab comes from the Middle English blabbe, "one who does not control his tongue."
Vocabulary lists containing blab
When I Was the Greatest
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The Egypt Game
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See You in the Cosmos
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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.
I was probably about 2 or 3 then, just trying to blab, because the early nurses I had when I was a kid had said that I had delayed speech or something called “selective mutism.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2025
"All the 'career prosecutors' I know would never ever blab to a reporter about an ongoing case," tweets lawyer Tristan Snell.
From Salon • Sep. 23, 2022
West used to be a pop-culture insurgent who only knew forward motion, an egomaniacal maestro whose most self-centered blab usually erupted in the direction of truth.
From Washington Post • Oct. 28, 2019
“Right at the beginning. First interview. Blab, blab, blab. I regret it, but I put it out into the ether, and maybe I’ll learn something.”
From The Guardian • Mar. 22, 2019
I just let him blab away, but given the research I'd done over the Christmas holidays I already knew where he was coming from.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
