tattle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to let out secrets.
-
to chatter, prate, or gossip.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
the act of tattling.
-
idle talk; chatter; gossip.
verb
-
(intr) to gossip about another's personal matters or secrets
-
(tr) to reveal by gossiping
to tattle a person's secrets
-
(intr) to talk idly; chat
noun
-
the act or an instance of tattling
-
a scandalmonger or gossip
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tattlesimple
-
tattlessimple
-
have tattledperfect
-
has tattledperfect
-
am tattlingprogressive
-
are tattlingprogressive
-
is tattlingprogressive
-
have been tattlingperfect progressive
-
has been tattlingperfect progressive
Past
-
tattledsimple
-
had tattledperfect
-
was tattlingprogressive
-
were tattlingprogressive
-
had been tattlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tattle
1475–85; < Dutch tatelen; cognate with Middle Low German tatelen
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:
Hard questions still need to be asked, not least because this is not primarily a story about celebrity tittle tattle, or idle gossip about ITV's star talent.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2023
We’re hesitant to tattle to our supervisor, but since we’re equals, we’re also not comfortable confronting her.
From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2022
It has morphed into a broader movement and mind-set encouraging people to tattle on one another to the courts or the state — with grave consequences.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 6, 2022
“If Walls Could Talk” they might tattle on the home healthcare worker a woman hires to look after her widowed mother in this new TV movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2022
“Or what? No teacher to tattle to this summer.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Crawford busts up the little gathering and tattles to Davis: “Your girl was corrupting my twins.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2017
Already a gossip, Tripp was now doubtless more attuned than ever to tattles she could tell.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gregers Werle tattles to Hialmar Ekdal, who is much too little a fool to disbelieve him.
From Time Magazine Archive
One young woman whom he tattles on has been wronged by Sam Gobel himself.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Ruth sent six hundred texts last month,” Elisha tattles.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
In “American Dreams,” Julia Alvarez recalls a childhood candy store and its “tinkling bell that tattled I was coming in the door.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 2, 2019
A disgruntled Congressional Country Club member tattled on the course for removing too many trees.
From Golf Digest ● Oct. 16, 2018
Whoever tattled about someone’s private health condition should be ashamed.
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2015
I believe I tattled as much on me as anybody else.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2013
Had one of the other girls tattled so soon?
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
Michael Freedman, a California defense lawyer, said he has noticed an uptick in incidents of jurors tattling on one another to judges rather than working out their differences in jury rooms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Critics saw the tattling as a shift from mutual aid toward control and branding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Now, he said, “Bark has taken that piece out of it. The other student doesn’t have to feel like they’re betraying or tattling or anything like that.”
From The Guardian ● Oct. 22, 2019
Priests, seminarians and former seminarians described in interviews a climate of self-censure, with men often tattling on one another and gossiping rather than speaking openly.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 3, 2019
I also resent Father Masego for tattling on me.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
