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
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gossipsimple
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gossipssimple
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have gossipedperfect
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have gossippedperfect
-
has gossipedperfect
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has gossippedperfect
-
am gossipingprogressive
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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
-
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:
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
Hiddleston notes that “one great gift of Pompeii is that the Romans didn’t have paper, so the walls, the columns, the houses, the public buildings are covered in writing: deeds, business contracts, advertisements, gossip, doodles.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
There was something calming and oceanic about the rhythm of rolls and cracks around her, blending with the ambient murmur of banter and gossip into white noise.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
From the late 16th Century, armies of scribes, agents and secretaries compiled akhbarat - brief news reports on court intrigue, military campaigns, appointments, finances and gossip.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
It becomes the subject of gossip and soon attracts the attention of the media, after which it escalates into a crisis of vast and humiliating proportions.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
Capitol Hill gossips, including journalists from whom one might have hoped to hear something before now, evidently knew about Mr. Swalwell’s behavior for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 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
Rosenblum snaps back to the beginning of the summer, where she lays out her rogues’ gallery of gossips, hypocrites, cheaters.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
“That’s where all the best gossips in town have gathered.”
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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
As spectators filed through security screening then streamed into the courtroom, they gossiped as key players strode by as though in a stage play, including Dick Harpootlian, the lead defense lawyer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Some are afraid that if they reveal too much they could be gossiped about.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
Right now, they gossiped as in any other break room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
Plump, translucent lizards lived behind old pictures, and waxy, crumbling ancestors with tough toe-nails and breath that smelled of yellow maps gossiped in sibilant, papery whispers.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
You may tell her that I came here and gossipped against her, if you like.
From The Irrational Knot Being the Second Novel of His Nonage by Shaw, Bernard
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 Walpole, Horace
"The substance of the Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley was, with singular industry, gossipped by the present precious secretary of war, in Payne the bookseller's shop."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
Major Eaton, Old Hickory's first Secretary of War, had married a beautiful widow, maiden name Peggy O'Neil, of common birth, and much gossipped about.
From History of the United States, Volume 3 by Andrews, Elisha Benjamin
Paige and Marye did embroidery and gossipped together under the big crystal chandelier while their mother read aloud to them from "Great Expectations," which was running serially in Harper's Weekly.
From Ailsa Paige by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
I briefly joined a book club of some work colleagues when I was teaching in rural Illinois, and it was fun, but most of our time was spent gossiping about, well, work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 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
They would also often meet for dinner, sometimes lavish meals, gossiping and bantering over dim sum, pizza or claypot rice.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
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
The gossiping guests were sipping jasmine tea from Westing Paper Party Cups, nibbling on tidbits from Westing Paper Party Plates, and wiping their fingers on Westing Paper Party Napkins.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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
Though our family was a veritable lunatic asylum of poets, no one cared to translate the good creature's gossipping garrulity into verse.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Gozzi, Carlo
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 Lang, Andrew
"Peter!" said Walter, struggling painfully to recover his composure; "Is there more in what you have just been telling me, than mere talk and gossipping nonsense?"
From L'Arrabiata and Other Tales by Heyse, Paul
One word more: In a place like this, where there is so much gossipping, I can't allow you to bear alone the responsibility of this action.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Rameur, E.
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.
