tittle-tattle
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tittle-tattlesimple
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tittle-tattlessimple
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have tittle-tattledperfect
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has tittle-tattledperfect
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am tittle-tattlingprogressive
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are tittle-tattlingprogressive
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is tittle-tattlingprogressive
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have been tittle-tattlingperfect progressive
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has been tittle-tattlingperfect progressive
Past
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tittle-tattledsimple
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had tittle-tattledperfect
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was tittle-tattlingprogressive
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were tittle-tattlingprogressive
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had been tittle-tattlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tittle-tattle
First recorded in 1520–30; gradational compound based on tittle to whisper, gossip
Explanation
School children often engage in tittle-tattle about their classmates, sharing rumors and gossip while socializing during lunch and recess. Tittle-tattle refers to light gossip or idle chatter. It can be used as a noun to describe the content of the gossip, and it can be used as a verb to describe the act of engaging in it. While usually harmless, too much tittle-tattle can sometimes lead to misunderstandings or the spread of minor rumors.
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:
His weekly, Next, which began as a print magazine but now has only a digital edition, writes a lot about celebrities and covers local tittle-tattle, but also provides unstinting support for the protests.
From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2019
The tip-offs included "gossip" and "tittle-tattle" about Princes William and Harry, the Old Bailey heard.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2015
The gossip columns have a field day and can't believe their luck that such a rich seam of tittle-tattle is laid out on a platter for them.
From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2014
It was hard to take a news holiday, over Thanksgiving, what with the protests in Ferguson, the live updates, the streaming commentary, the instant video, the on-the-spot reporting, and the tittle-tattle of Twitter.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 3, 2014
I couldn’t afford to be the topic of neighborhood tittle-tattle.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
He will not take part in these little tittle-tattles.
From Miss Mapp by Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Them as tittle-tattles about dead folks needn't look to lie quiet theirselves in their graves.
From Marcella by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
You can, well, cork the mouths of a thousand bottles, But not that of one that always tittle-tattles.
From Truth and the Myth : Couplets quips by Narayanan, A. R.
But just now there are also tittle-tattles in the hall.
From Dorothy Dale in the City by Penrose, Margaret
Delacroix painted in Nohant's garden studio, and such famous guests as Balzac, Theophile Gautier and Alfred de Vigny argued and tittle-tattled in its drawing room.
From Time Magazine Archive
At least she on more than one occasion tittle-tattled about her.
From Lady Mary Wortley Montague Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) by Melville, Lewis
While visiting Bonn with the President in July, he appeared with a new German friend in a manner so cozy that it immediately made the Washington Star's tittle-tattling "Ear" column.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was no card playing, "quarreling with or whipping wives . . . tittle-tattling ... or running about."
From Time Magazine Archive
Is there not milking-time, when you are going to bed, or kiln-hole, to whistle off these secrets, but you must be tittle-tattling before all our guests? 'tis well they are whispering.
From The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare, William
Mr Cargrim, by his late tittle-tattling conversation, had fallen in her good opinion; and she was not going to let him off without a sharp rebuke for his unfounded chatter.
From The Bishop's Secret by Hume, Fergus
"Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity," but charity is not to be found in that tittle-tattling, excited crowd of talkers.
From The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent A Complete Course of 66 Short Sermons, or Full Sermon Outlines for Each Sunday, and Some Chief Holy Days of the Christian Year by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
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.
