confabulate

[ kuh n-fab-yuh-leyt ]

/ kənˈfæb yəˌleɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR confabulate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), con·fab·u·lat·ed, con·fab·u·lat·ing.

to converse informally; chat.

Psychiatry. to engage in confabulation.

Nearby words

conestoga wagon, coney, coney island, conf., confab, confabulate, confabulation, confarreation, confect, confection, confectionary

Origin of confabulate

1605–15; < Latin confābulātus (past participle of confābulārī to talk together), equivalent to con- con- + fābul(a) conversation (see fable) + -ātus -ate¹

Related forms

con·fab·u·la·tor, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for confabulate

An' whut dem six ghostes do but stand round an' confabulate?
Humorous Ghost Stories|Dorothy Scarborough
Birds of a feather not only flock together, but, as every ornithologist knows full well, can confabulate.
Country Rambles, and Manchester Walks and Wild Flowers|Leo H. Grindon
She does not break the thread of a conversation by irrelevant questions or confabulate in an undertone with the servants.
Worldly Ways and Byways|Eliot Gregory
In this manner, said my master, did the parson and I confabulate; and I set him down at his lodgings in the village.
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded|Samuel Richardson

Eden is not yet returned from Woodstock; I will confabulate with him.
Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2)|Edward Gibbon

British Dictionary definitions for confabulate

confabulate

/ (kənˈfæbjʊˌleɪt) /

verb (intr)

to talk together; converse; chat

psychiatry to replace the gaps left by a disorder of the memory with imaginary remembered experiences consistently believed to be trueSee also paramnesia

Derived Forms

confabulation, nounconfabulator, nounconfabulatory, adjective

Word Origin for confabulate

C17: from Latin confābulārī, from fābulārī to talk, from fābula a story; see fable

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012