chatterbox
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of chatterbox
First recorded in 1765–75; i.e., person whose voice box chatters constantly
Explanation
A chatterbox is a person who tends to use a whole lot of words without having much of anything to say. If you're constantly whispering to your friend during math class, your annoyed teacher might call you a chatterbox. The informal word chatterbox is the perfect term for the annoying, incessant talker you always seem to end up sitting next to on long plane trips. Chatterbox dates from the 1770s, a combination of chatter, an echoic or onomatopoeic word, and box, giving chatterbox the sense of "a box or container full of idle chatter."
Vocabulary lists containing chatterbox
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.
Anxious to finish his shift in time for a celebratory dinner, he finds himself teamed with Travis, “the annoying new kid,” a chatterbox who conversely reveres Russell as a god.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025
Her Elphaba is quiet and tender, a perfect complement to Grande’s joke-cracking chatterbox Glinda.
From Salon • Nov. 19, 2024
“I am not leaving here. I am ready for them to bury me here,” said Kahlon, a gruff but amiable chatterbox with a grey beard and beret.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 12, 2023
She was a devout Christian and consummate chatterbox - in turn prone to bursts of melancholy followed by gales of gravelly laughter.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2022
Giving it my best English accent, I say, “Such a chatterbox, a guy can’t get a word in.”
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
