gossip
Americannoun
-
gossip
plural
-
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
-
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.
-
Archaic. a friend, especially a woman.
verb (used without object)
-
gossips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gossiped,
past participle, past
-
gossipped,
past participle, past
-
gossiping,
present participle
-
gossipping
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
gossips,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gossiped,
past participle, past
-
gossipped,
past participle, past
-
gossiping,
present participle
-
gossipping
present participle
-
Chiefly British Dialect. to stand godparent to.
-
Archaic. to repeat like a gossip.
noun
-
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
-
light easy communication
to write a letter full of gossip
-
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
-
gossipsimple
-
gossipssimple
-
have gossipedperfect
-
have gossippedperfect
-
has gossipedperfect
-
has gossippedperfect
-
am gossipingprogressive
-
am gossippingprogressive
-
are gossipingprogressive
-
are gossippingprogressive
-
is gossipingprogressive
-
is gossippingprogressive
-
have been gossipingperfect progressive
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have been gossippingperfect progressive
-
has been gossipingperfect progressive
-
has been gossippingperfect progressive
Past
-
gossipedsimple
-
gossippedsimple
-
had gossipedperfect
-
had gossippedperfect
-
was gossipingprogressive
-
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:
The celebrity gossip blogger became as famous as the stars he covered before social media upended his business model.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The pseudonym Perez Hilton is a reference to Paris Hilton who was at the height of her fame when the celebrity gossip blog was launched in 2005.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
This piece of gossip soon begins to cloud Elliot’s life and better judgement.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
If gossip and snark is what you’re after, try Lena Dunham’s episode where she talks about an awkward meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook and quitting vaping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Someone who didn’t like to gossip, even if they secretly did.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
Then gossips chattered that a huge “bear raid,” or manipulation of stocks by short sellers, would be launched the following morning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
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
In the kitchen, Rudolf’s wife, Hedwig, sits and gossips with friends.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
Everybody gossips and everybody gets up to things.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2023
I catch every word those old gossips say at the chicken dinners after services.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
As attendees roamed the corridors of the suburban Dallas resort and gossiped over drinks in the faux-adobe sports bar, there was no sense of a coming contest.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
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
Busy markets sold butchered meats and fast-wilting vegetables, horse carts clattered, children shouted, and men and women gossiped in coffeehouses and read from printed newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
During his childhood, Almodóvar sometimes sat and listened under the kitchen table while his mother and other women gossiped and shared secrets, Moore says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2024
She sighed, wistful, and rested her chin in her hand, gazing down to where people lived and danced and loved and gossiped and didn’t ever eat kimril if they didn’t want to.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Have any of you gossipped like old women, either with him or with Deer Runner?”
From Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant by Mathew Joseph Holt
Gradually it became gossipped about that the Duke of Bolton's suit had succeeded.
From Madame Flirt A Romance of 'The Beggar's Opera' by Charles Edward Pearce
Soon the rest who had wondered and praised and blamed and gossipped forgot about him; they had no more attention to give him, no more flattery, no more allegiance.
From Quisanté by Anthony Hope
Hannah Gropphusen indemnified herself in her own way by coquetry and flirtations, and she was soon gossipped about as much as her husband.
From Jena or Sedan? by Franz Beyerlein
First of all, your love affair is being gossipped about; secondly, this gossip has indirectly brought your lover into serious danger.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 07 — Fiction by Arthur Mee
“It’s like, ‘We don’t want to hear from you when we’re gossiping about you,’” said social media consultant Rachel Karten, author of the Link in Bio newsletter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
But instead of gossiping about who’s dating whom, collaborators batted around their pasts and infused the darkly comedic anthology series with themes of samsara and the Jungian Shadow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
She stayed up until 03:00 gossiping with other women in her room.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 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
The din of gossiping voices fills the room.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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
I’m not their maid, and she had no business to stand here gossipping about Miss Nevins.
From The Girls at Mount Morris by Amanda Minnie Douglas
So soon as the first canoe was made, Cary Singleton launched it, and, accompanied by two men, made the reconnoissance which so much frightened the gossipping laundresses.
From The Bastonnais Tale of the American Invasion of Canada in 1775-76 by John Lespérance
This last hint was a revelation to the gossipping Dame; there had been trouble, then, at the parsonage; things were clearly not upon their old footing.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 99, January, 1866 by Various
It would be necessary to keep Roberts from gossipping, and for that reason it was policy to discount the importance of his information.
From The Grell Mystery by Frank Froest
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.
