blather
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
-
blathers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blathered,
past participle, past
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blathering
present participle
verb
noun
-
foolish talk; nonsense
-
a person who blathers
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
blathersimple
-
blatherssimple
-
have blatheredperfect
-
has blatheredperfect
-
am blatheringprogressive
-
are blatheringprogressive
-
is blatheringprogressive
-
have been blatheringperfect progressive
-
has been blatheringperfect progressive
Past
-
blatheredsimple
-
had blatheredperfect
-
was blatheringprogressive
-
were blatheringprogressive
-
had been blatheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blather
From Middle English; Old Norse blathra “to chatter, blabber”
Explanation
To blather is to talk on and on without saying anything very important or wise. If you blather all afternoon, it might be a welcome distraction to your friend who's grieving the death of her cat. You can use the word blather as a noun too: you might hate riding the bus home from school because of all the silly blather around you. At a job, it might be acceptable to blather during your lunch break, but not once you get back to work. The verb came first, and it was originally Scottish, probably from the Old Norse word blaðra, "mutter or wag the tongue."
Vocabulary lists containing blather
The Hunger Games
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Speak
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Ghost
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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.
See Examples For:
In fact, I expected the outcome since about day seven, including China’s role in bringing about a settlement, though minus any blather on my part about a victory for the mullahs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
How do you think she feels watching RFK Jr. blather on about vaccines?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2025
"All this blather about Mr Adams being a member of the army council is not something you have to decide," he told the jury.
From BBC ● May 7, 2025
Why not just ignore her and carry on with his usual blather about shower heads and windmills and tales of his former glory?
From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2024
They wrestled the Americans toward the shed door affectionately, filling the night with manly blather and brotherly rodomontades.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
If she wants to call witnesses to rebut specific lies he blathers, she can.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2021
First, he sees through the pontification of the hall’s snooty administrator, who blathers on about the philanthropic purpose of wealth.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2016
He blathers on about Picasso as a rogue sociopath, a narcissist out to make someone suffer, maybe his mom or his dad or himself or the whole world.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2012
The Portuguese, meanwhile, hardly dare express hope in their striker, O Jogo merely announcing what is at stake by headlining "Bento banks on Postiga", while A Bola blathers about a titanic battle with Vikings.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2012
Heather paints her nails on her desk blotter and blathers.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
He blathered incoherently about the New York Times' award-winning 1619 Project, which explores the origins of American democracy and its irrevocable connections to white-on-Black chattel slavery.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2020
For now, though, Koepka is ascendant, and for all the reasons I've blathered on about for the last four hours, what he's accomplished in the past two years is more than just remarkable—it's singular.
From Golf Digest ● May 19, 2019
Pundits blathered above a ticker of the latest headlines.
From Slate ● Feb. 1, 2015
"I have expressed to them apologies and I understand they are not happy and that people are criticising," blathered Blatter, who had had nothing but mockery for the Irish.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2010
Pushing our chairs back, we both grabbed our bonnets, blathered something to Mrs. Drysdale about getting some fresh air, and skittered out the back door.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
I called A&W Restaurants’ headquarters in Lexington, Ky. I reached the chairman, Kevin Bazner, 71, and started blathering on about Camp Golden Eagle and the stand on Highway 51.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
So it just seems like some blathering by a professor, and that is frustrating.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2024
No, he wanted to read about it on Twitter, one factual post taking a blow torch to all the blathering opinions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2023
“I was letting off steam and it was more online blathering than anything,” he said.
From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2021
She’s watching the TV, where a news anchor is blathering about the “flow crisis.”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
