tattletale
Americannoun
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tattletales
plural
adjective
noun
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a scandalmonger or gossip
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another word for telltale
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tattletale
Explanation
A tattletale is a person who tries to get someone in trouble by revealing secret information about them. Your tattletale brother will probably tell your parents that you were actually at the movies, not the library. The word tattletale is mostly used in the U.S. (in Britain it's more common to use telltale). It comes from the verb tattle, "report someone's wrongdoing." In the 16th century, you'd have called a tattletale a pickthank. These days, you can also use words like snitch or whistle-blower.
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:
Danielle Spencer, the former child star who played sassy tattletale Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2025
All media; corporate media, social media, local media, national media, state media, non-profit, for-profit and the tattletale kid down the street.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2024
“You once said that using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge just could not happen,” she harped like a little tattletale.
From Washington Times ● May 15, 2023
Our bosses love her and are thrilled she’s doing nonprofit work, so I’m afraid if I bring it up to them I’ll seem like a childish tattletale.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2016
I followed her up this very same road, calling her a tattletale.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
People who come forward are called narcs, tattletales and snitches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
We live in a culture increasingly at the mercy of tattletales.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 17, 2021
Teachers are exceptionally good at dealing with tattletales, and I would not worry about this behavior in Zoom class.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2020
They are “really articulate tattletales on the thermal history of the body in the way that other things aren’t,” she says—and the implications could be far-reaching.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 25, 2019
Sometimes the house servants were the betrayers, they were closest to the masters, known to be tattletales, certain to be rewarded because of their talebearing.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
