drivel
Americannoun
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saliva flowing from the mouth, or mucus from the nose; slaver.
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childish, silly, or meaningless talk or thinking; nonsense; twaddle.
verb (used without object)
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to let saliva flow from the mouth or mucus from the nose; slaver.
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to talk childishly or idiotically.
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Archaic. to issue like spittle.
verb (used with object)
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to utter childishly or idiotically.
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to waste foolishly.
verb
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to allow (saliva) to flow from the mouth; dribble
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(intr) to speak foolishly or childishly
noun
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foolish or senseless talk
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saliva flowing from the mouth; slaver
Other Word Forms
- driveler noun
- drivelingly adverb
- driveller noun
Etymology
Origin of drivel
before 1000; Middle English dryvelen, variant of drevelen, Old English dreflian; akin to draff
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.
I guess the three exclamation points drive home the drivel.
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025
But some of the books I got were pure academic drivel, totally useless, that gave me no guidance or comfort.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2024
He had described a newspaper report that they had dropped by 30,000 as "drivel", but it was later confirmed the figure was correct.
From BBC • Aug. 23, 2023
“How could the big moguls in their plush counting houses high above Manhattan not read a guy who wrote that ‘on the TV screen pure drivel tends to drive out ordinary drivel’?”
From New York Times • Jun. 29, 2023
Had he known what drivel filled his head, he would have shouted.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
