gossip
Americannoun
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gossip
plural
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idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others.
the endless gossip about Hollywood stars.
- Synonyms:
- chitchat, palaver, hearsay, small talk
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light, familiar talk or writing.
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Also gossiper, gossipper. a person given to tattling or idle talk.
- Synonyms:
- rumormonger, chatterer
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Chiefly British Dialect. a godparent.
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Archaic. a friend, especially a woman.
verb (used without object)
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gossips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gossiped,
past participle, past
-
gossipped,
past participle, past
-
gossiping,
present participle
-
gossipping
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
gossips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gossiped,
past participle, past
-
gossipped,
past participle, past
-
gossiping,
present participle
-
gossipping
present participle
-
Chiefly British Dialect. to stand godparent to.
-
Archaic. to repeat like a gossip.
noun
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casual and idle chat
to have a gossip with a friend
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a conversation involving malicious chatter or rumours about other people
a gossip about the neighbours
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Also called: gossipmonger. a person who habitually talks about others, esp maliciously
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light easy communication
to write a letter full of gossip
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archaic a close woman friend
verb
Synonym Usage
Gossip, scandal apply to idle talk and newsmongering about the affairs of others. Gossip is light chat or talk: to trade gossip about the neighbors. Scandal is rumor or general talk that is damaging to reputation; it is usually more or less malicious: The town never lived down the election scandal.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gossipernoun
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gossipingnoun
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intergossipverb
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gossipyadjective
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ungossipingadjective
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gossipinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gossipsimple
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gossipssimple
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have gossipedperfect
-
have gossippedperfect
-
has gossipedperfect
-
has gossippedperfect
-
am gossipingprogressive
-
am gossippingprogressive
-
are gossipingprogressive
-
are gossippingprogressive
-
is gossipingprogressive
-
is gossippingprogressive
-
have been gossipingperfect progressive
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have been gossippingperfect progressive
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has been gossipingperfect progressive
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has been gossippingperfect progressive
Past
-
gossipedsimple
-
gossippedsimple
-
had gossipedperfect
-
had gossippedperfect
-
was gossipingprogressive
-
was gossippingprogressive
-
were gossipingprogressive
-
were gossippingprogressive
-
had been gossipingperfect progressive
-
had been gossippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gossip
First recorded before 1050; Middle English gossib, godsib(be), Old English godsibb, originally “godparent,” equivalent to god + sibb “related”; see origin at god, sib
Explanation
Gossip is conversation that's light, informal, and usually about other people's business. It can be fun to gossip about others, but no one likes it when they're the subject of gossip. You can find people just about anywhere who love to chatter about the latest rumors and stories: they're gossips who love to gossip. You've probably seen all the celebrity gossip featured in the tabloids: stories about who's dating, marrying, divorcing, or having a baby. But don't trust everything you hear — gossip isn't always accurate, and often people spread untrue gossip just to mess with someone they don't like.
Vocabulary lists containing gossip
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
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Simply Scandalous!
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Sula
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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.
See Examples For:
Just like there’s antisocial conflict and prosocial conflict, there is a prosocial form of gossip.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
People with well-recognised Cuban-American surnames – like Bacardi and Babun – chat around the pool about the lamentable state of the island's economy, and share titbits of gossip about the latest political rumblings.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
The celebrity gossip blogger became as famous as the stars he covered before social media upended his business model.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
In 1941 Der Chef began delivering a salacious mix of gossip and foulmouthed fake news to German listeners over shortwave radio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
I thought the bird was merely trying to impress me with idle gossip: I should have questioned her further.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
She smiles, laughs, cries, makes jokes, stomps her foot, flirts and gossips about other women with a girlfriend.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Much of the chatter never moves past a relatively small, dishy circle of political gossips because the supposed misdeeds, while titillating, can’t stand up to rigorous scrutiny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
The chapters fly at the reader in column-length bursts, and the perspective bops about from that of our heroine to neighborhood gossips, savvy editors and that unforgettable mother-in-law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
Tisa’s reenactments, commentary, and energy earned her a comment from a viewer who dubbed her “the new and improved Wendy Williams,” signaling a changing future for even legacy gossips and talk show hosts.
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2025
She gossips about the other residents, praises the staff, tells us what she’s been up to.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
For the past few years, residents of the tiny Palm Meadows Estates gated community in Boynton Beach, Fla., have gossiped about a string of home purchases that quietly took place in their neighborhood in 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
As attendees roamed the corridors of the suburban Dallas resort and gossiped over drinks in the faux-adobe sports bar, there was no sense of a coming contest.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
Because the home has been staged, buyers won’t be able to sit at the very kitchen table where the Kardashian clan gossiped over salads, or the poolside lounges where they often sunned themselves.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026
Some are afraid that if they reveal too much they could be gossiped about.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
I sat there grinning while Kevin and Susan gabbed and gossiped over their sandwiches.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
And Jessie, being new to the fashionable world, shrank from having her heart-history gossipped about.
From Jessamine A Novel by Marion Harland
The temporalities of the church—What's o'clock, said the emperor to the chief eunuch? it cannot sure be far from eight—this woman has gossipped at least seven hours.
From Hieroglyphic Tales by Horace Walpole
And Flora devoutly kissed her, then gossipped pleasantly about the other guests and the people in the neighborhood.
From Ancestors A Novel by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Have any of you gossipped like old women, either with him or with Deer Runner?”
From Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant by Mathew Joseph Holt
First of all, your love affair is being gossipped about; secondly, this gossip has indirectly brought your lover into serious danger.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 07 — Fiction by Arthur Mee
“It’s like, ‘We don’t want to hear from you when we’re gossiping about you,’” said social media consultant Rachel Karten, author of the Link in Bio newsletter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
I felt like he was gossiping about me to a lot of people, and during one review, it became clear that he was.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026
“You hear people gossiping in the locker room, or you hear about cool art shows that are happening or dance parties,” says Hansen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026
It was lunchtime, and this Chili’s in suburban Dallas was hopping: office friends gossiping, parents eating chips and salsa, their kids gaming on Chili’s-branded Ziosk tablets.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2025
Folk with less curiosity or more propriety stayed outside, peering through the wide windows and gossiping over what they’d heard.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Robinson and Frances Glandney, who married in 2002, were part of a group of longtime pals and she knew they’d start gossipping about her and the legendary singer-songwriter.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
His acquaintances, laughing and gossipping round the half-empty wine-glasses, the olives, the scattered fruit, and "the ashes of the weeds of their delight," gave themselves no concern about the weary host.
From The Mark Of Cain by Andrew Lang
"It means that some accident or other has given malignant fools a chance of gossipping about her," said Sir Tancred in an unamiable tone.
From The Admirable Tinker Child of the World by Edgar Jepson
The evenings of the Sabbath are passed in little gossipping circles in some of the cabins, or beneath the shade of some tree in front of their dwellings, or at weddings.
From The South-West By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 2 by Jonathon Holt Ingraham
Return to Table of Contents 'Wine and Walnuts' was a good title for a gossipping book; 'Claret and Olives' is a better.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 434 Volume 17, New Series, April 24, 1852 by William Chambers
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.
