Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

confabulate

[kuh n-fab-yuh-leyt]
See more synonyms for confabulate on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object), con·fab·u·lat·ed, con·fab·u·lat·ing.
  1. to converse informally; chat.
  2. Psychiatry. to engage in confabulation.
Show More

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. 2018

Related Words

chatterboxspeakertalkerchatterer
British Dictionary definitions for confabulator

confabulate

verb (intr)
  1. to talk together; converse; chat
  2. psychiatry to replace the gaps left by a disorder of the memory with imaginary remembered experiences consistently believed to be trueSee also paramnesia
Show More
Derived Formsconfabulation, nounconfabulator, nounconfabulatory, adjective

Word Origin

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 confabulator

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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper