as in babble
unintelligible or meaningless talk
parents often claim to understand the prattle of their infant offspring
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in to chat
to engage in casual or rambling conversation
spent an hour on the phone prattling on about nothing in particular
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in to chatter
to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and usually unintelligibly
stop prattling and calmly tell us the news
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of prattle
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2022
His memoir is a litany of petty fights, a constant takedown of enemies and a cascade of self-aggrandizing prattle.
—Elizabeth Spiers, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022
Will Leitch, Vulture, 19 Apr. 2024
On a recent evening, psychologists, students, and scholars wandered the rooms, sipping wine and prattling about the collection.
—Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 23 June 2023
See all Example Sentences for prattle 
Noun
The British playwright David Hare, who adapted a Maigret book for the stage, insists that Simenon—being Belgian-born and so an outsider—disdained the usual French prattle about gastronomy, and therefore cared little for the subject.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2022
His memoir is a litany of petty fights, a constant takedown of enemies and a cascade of self-aggrandizing prattle.
—Elizabeth Spiers, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022
Verb
The result is an entirely incoherent crime thriller that features gangsters prattling on about the self and the ego and the soul and then occasionally wandering into an entirely different scene where other gangsters are prattling on about the same thing.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 19 Apr. 2024
On a recent evening, psychologists, students, and scholars wandered the rooms, sipping wine and prattling about the collection.
—Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 23 June 2023
See all Example Sentences for prattle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prattle
Verb
-
This year’s auction features nearly 100 exclusive items, including one-on-one author chats with Carmen Maria Machado (In the Dream House), Jenny Jackson (Pineapple Street), Megan Abbott (Beware the Woman) and Cal Newport (Deep Work).Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 2 Dec. 2024
-
Apple Martin was also seen dancing with her father in a video posted to social media, where the dad-and-daughter duo are seen chatting and laughing while sharing the sweet moment.Alli Rosenbloom, CNN, 1 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
This summer, while watching cornerback Marlon Humphrey press Ravens receivers with rejuvenated aggression and repeatedly intercepting passes from the NFL Most Valuable Player front-runner Lamar Jackson, players and coaches started to chatter.Sam Cohn, Baltimore Sun, 13 Nov. 2024
-
And in Times Square, where a dense orchestra of honking horns, idling motors, chattering tourists, and voluble vendors can push sound levels north of 90 decibels, the song’s unmistakable tinny beat and pogoing piano loop manage to cut through the din.Max Cea, Curbed, 17 Oct. 2024
Noun
-
The art world, like the artwork itself, exists in a delicate balance of elitism and absurdity, meaning and nonsense.Natalie Stoclet, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
-
The basic idea here is that Vince Vaughn is doing his mid-aughts-dirtbag Vince Vaughn thing but on Christmas — a premise that’s laid on a foundation of plausible-sounding nonsense.Katie Rife, Vulture, 16 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Pippen has been vocal about his desire tie sports and cryptocurrency together, and talks regularly about Bitcoin.Callum Booth, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024
-
Oh boy … immediately after being asked about Sarah (Dawn Olivieri), Jamie (Wes Bentley) loses his mind while talking to detectives.William Earl, Variety, 2 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
Feel the raw power of St. Lucia's volcanic formation at the island's Sulphur Springs, hidden among babbling rivers and waterfalls in the jungle near Soufrière.Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 2 Nov. 2024
-
The sketch opened with James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump putting on a fluorescent sanitation worker vest and babbling to himself in exhaustion.Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 2 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Indeed, one of the things the movies and TV always get wrong is that whenever there’s a scene in a restaurant the characters converse with barely a whisper in the background.John Mariani, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
-
On his journey to figure out how to fix it, T meets vibrant individuals along the way, trying to converse and pick others’ brains to achieve his ultimate goal – to protect all his possessions.Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 7 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Worse, such jabber crowds out essential coverage of genuine threats to democracy and the visions of the two parties.Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
-
Jacobs-Jenkins renders him as a wry, friendly figure who occasionally takes over the bodies of the other characters to explain what is happening beneath their jabber.Jesse Green, New York Times, 5 June 2023
Verb
-
But the saucier iterations are what viewers are drooling over on TikTok.Sabrina Weiss, People.com, 5 Dec. 2024
-
If ingested in large amounts, the sap can cause vomiting, drooling or diarrhea.Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2024
Video
A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia
Some imitative words are more surprising than others
Thesaurus Entries Near prattle
Cite this Entry
“Prattle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prattle. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share