gossip
Americannoun
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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)
verb (used with object)
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Chiefly British Dialect. to stand godparent to.
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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
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are gossipingprogressive
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are gossippingprogressive
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is gossipingprogressive
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is gossippingprogressive
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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
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gossippedsimple
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had gossipedperfect
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had gossippedperfect
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was gossipingprogressive
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was gossippingprogressive
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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:
The website became known as a pop culture hub, where readers could indulge in the latest celebrity gossip or discover a unique cooking recipe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
But there is little in the public record to document this, other than items in the gossip pages about their golf bouts.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
More than a decade ago, a local data nerd was able to obtain taxi commission data and cross-reference it with photos on celebrity gossip blogs to purportedly show that some celebrities didn’t tip their drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Swifties and their ideological opposites have both been Monday-morning quarterbacking last weekend’s shindig, accepting even the weirdest bad-faith gossip without question.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
When Bobby, as was typical, arrived past two o’clock, the restaurant would be sparsely filled: perhaps a Danish hippie, two American tourists, and three young local girls preoccupied with what they thought was important gossip.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
Then gossips chattered that a huge “bear raid,” or manipulation of stocks by short sellers, would be launched the following morning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 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
Williams has long understood why people love gossip and equally adore and abhor gossips: they cause controversy, and sometimes force a public, corrective response.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024
She gossips about the other residents, praises the staff, tells us what she’s been up to.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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
Busy markets sold butchered meats and fast-wilting vegetables, horse carts clattered, children shouted, and men and women gossiped in coffeehouses and read from printed newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
During his childhood, Almodóvar sometimes sat and listened under the kitchen table while his mother and other women gossiped and shared secrets, Moore says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2024
After the disastrous matchmaking attempt, Mrs. Brenner had gossiped to me that Raizel’s parents had cut her hair short at a physician’s advice, due to a touch of brain fever.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Had I driven in from Charleville alone I might have gossipped with all the idlers of the village, but now that I am walking with a "Boycotted" person I seem to have become invisible.
From Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81. by Becker, Bernard H.
That as a rule, he gossipped and shared his tobacco with sailors and fishermen, and brought out the sock much oftener than was prudent for the benefit of the ragged boys who haunt the quay.
From Tales from Many Sources Vol. V by Various
The town gossipped itself nearly crazy, but without any satisfactory result.
From Garman and Worse A Norwegian Novel by Kielland, Alexander Lange
In the forepart of the oven, on either hand, stood a variety of pots and pipkins, and gossipped together in their several tones.
From Yiddish Tales by Various
"Worship makes worshipped, worshipper, worshipping; gossip, gossipped, gossipper, gossipping; fillip, fillipped, fillipper, fillipping."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
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
The time guys normally spend learning in GED or college classes, or socializing and building community in prisoner-run workshops, is now wasted inside their cells gossiping and scheming.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2025
After being rejected, Venessa, also then in her mid-twenties, sent Jay a series of "angry and accusatory" messages, saying he was gossiping about her.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2025
Something that I think is pretty interesting, too, is the gossiping part of it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025
I hate that Mom was gossiping about our lives.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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
It will not, I hope, be considered a piece of gossipping personality if I allude to a fact which must, some day or other, be part of literary history.
From Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches by McCarthy, Justin
A kiss, at a dance, was all they could say in their gossipping, but he had kissed Annette, and she was by no means the flower of his heart.
From The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales. by Fuller, Fanny
I had frequently seen the woman; and her name, as the rector and I were one evening gossipping over our tea, on some subject or other that I forget, came up.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 438 Volume 17, New Series, May 22, 1852 by Chambers, Robert
This last hint was a revelation to the gossipping Dame; there had been trouble, then, at the parsonage; things were clearly not upon their old footing.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 99, January, 1866 by Various
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.
