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confabulate

[ kuh n-fab-yuh-leyt ]
/ kənˈfæb yəˌleɪt /
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verb (used without object), con·fab·u·lat·ed, con·fab·u·lat·ing.

to converse informally; chat.
Psychiatry. to engage in confabulation.

RELATED WORDS

confab, chitchat, palaver, chat, chatter, discuss, talk, speak, chaffer

Nearby words

  1. conestoga wagon,
  2. coney,
  3. coney island,
  4. conf.,
  5. confab,
  6. confabulation,
  7. confarreation,
  8. confect,
  9. confection,
  10. 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 formscon·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

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 Formsconfabulation, 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

Word Origin and History for confabulate

confabulate

v.

1610s, from confabulatus, past participle of Latin confabulari "to converse together," from com- "together" (see com-) + fabulari "to talk, chat," from fabula "a tale" (see fable). Psychiatric sense is from 1924.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper