natter
Americanverb (used without object)
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natters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
nattered,
past participle, past
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nattering
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
nattersimple
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natterssimple
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have natteredperfect
-
has natteredperfect
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am natteringprogressive
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are natteringprogressive
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is natteringprogressive
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have been natteringperfect progressive
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has been natteringperfect progressive
Past
-
natteredsimple
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had natteredperfect
-
was natteringprogressive
-
were natteringprogressive
-
had been natteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of natter
First recorded in 1820–30; variant of earlier gnatter < ?
Explanation
To natter is to talk at length about unimportant things. When you feel a little awkward and uncomfortable at a party, you might natter to the one person you know there for far too long. To natter is to chatter or blather or jabber — you don't natter about serious or deep topics. If you gossip with your neighbor for a few minutes, you can say that you natter. And, if you chat with your best friend on the phone in a lighthearted way, you also natter. Natter comes from the northern England dialect gnatter, "chatter," and also "grumble." Earlier, it meant, "nibble away."
Vocabulary lists containing natter
Chains
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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 other ladies who gather to knit and natter in her small English village thought the ears should be bigger.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
At one point, as the two natter self-righteously to each other about male pathology, a female worker in the background turns around and gives them a quick look over her shoulder.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2021
While politicians natter, markets move on as individuals and organizations chart their own courses.
From Fox News ● Oct. 1, 2020
So it would defeat the point if you take it off to have a natter, really.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2020
Eavesdropping's wrong, I know, but it was hardly my fault if Mum and Aunt Alice chose to natter right outside the ventilator flaps, was it?
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Clocks should be seen to be stopped for goal celebrations, substitutions, natters before set-pieces, rolling around and whenever the ball goes out of play.
From The Guardian ● May 15, 2016
As Erie natters on in an eager, fitful string of clichés, bringing to mind the sort of garrulous salesman you’d normally cross the street to avoid, Mr. Whitaker quietly breaks your heart.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2016
Instead of plunging into psychobabble, Carr simply plys his lineup with Pink Lady and natters.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2010
In a spray of wildly allusive wordplay, David Helfgott natters compulsively, cheerfully, to himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Of course. She spent all afternoon with her,” my mom says, and then natters on about how Nat’s not supposed to count.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
Its members have nattered on endlessly about their responsibility to safeguard the taxpayers’ money.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
We chatted about bus times, we talked about the meal I was cooking, we just nattered.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2023
Scheuer mused, “I have nattered on here longer than I intended.”
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2018
Doctorow listened graciously and politely as I nattered, but I could see he was ready to get going.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 23, 2015
The old woman had nattered at him for ten years, telling her endless stories, but now she gaped at him as if he were some stranger.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
To hear the nattering nabobs of Wall Street, you’d think the latest jobs figures, out Friday, show that labor has never had it so good.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
"Speaking, consulting, reflecting, explaining and nattering were my life's work," she later wrote.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2023
It’s slow off the starting line, with Mario and Luigi, its main-guy Brooklyn brothers, nattering on at length about a TV commercial for their plumbing business.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
“One day I was driving around with a close friend of Rob’s nattering about this exact question,” Hobbs recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
And I mind the townsmen nattering on, saying we foul the waters.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
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.
