Dictionary.com

confabulate

[ kuhn-fab-yuh-leyt ]
/ kənˈfæb yəˌleɪt /
See synonyms for: confabulate / confabulator on Thesaurus.com

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

to converse informally; chat.
Psychiatry. to replace a gap in one's memory by a falsification that one believes to be true; engage in confabulation.

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Origin of confabulate

First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin confābulātus (past participle of confābulārī “to talk together, discuss”); see con-, fable, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM confabulate

con·fab·u·la·tor, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to confabulate

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

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 of confabulate

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