tittle-tattle
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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tittle-tattles,
present (3rd person singular)
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tittle-tattled,
past participle, past
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tittle-tattling
present participle
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:
Prosecutor Andrew Scott said the detective had accessed logs involving "a relatively minor complaint" and "tittle-tattle" relating to her male friend, which was being dealt with by uniformed officers.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
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
Mr. McDonagh has a peerless gift for locating the mythologizing in small-town tittle-tattle, and the liturgical cadences in repeated phrases and actions.
From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2013
I let Susan talk me through every rumour, assumption and piece of half-digested tittle-tattle on how 18-year-old Jessica Currin had met her death, each one more unlikely or unprovable than the last.
From BBC ● May 17, 2013
My ears burned as I imagined the tittle-tattle of ladies at the Chinese Opera House, the girls and guys at the drugstore, the men in the cigar shops.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
He will not take part in these little tittle-tattles.
From Miss Mapp by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
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 A. R. Narayanan
But just now there are also tittle-tattles in the hall.
From Dorothy Dale in the City by Margaret Penrose
Them as tittle-tattles about dead folks needn't look to lie quiet theirselves in their graves.
From Marcella by Mrs. Humphry Ward
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 Lewis Melville
There was no card playing, "quarreling with or whipping wives . . . tittle-tattling ... or running about."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Going every night to that wicked, cruel, shameful girl and tittle-tattling.
From The Roll-Call by Arnold Bennett
Who could have been tittle-tattling about me so?
From Eyes Like the Sea by Mór Jókai
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 Fergus Hume
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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.
