tattle

tat·tle

Use tattle in a sentence

tattle

intransitive verb

-·tled, -·tling

to talk idly; chatter; gossip
to reveal other people's secrets; tell tales
to inform against someone

Origin of tattle

Late Middle English tattlen, probably from Middle Dutch tatelen, of echoic origin, originally

to reveal (a secret) through gossiping

idle talk; chatter; tattling

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MLA Style

"tattle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/tattle>.

APA Style

tattle. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/tattle

tattle

verb

tat·tled, tat·tling, tat·tles

verb

intransitive

To reveal the plans or activities of another, especially ones that are secret or improper: tattled on his sister when she snuck out; tattled to his parents about what his sister did.
To chatter; prate.

verb

transitive

To reveal (something about someone) to another, as through gossiping.

noun

Idle talk; chatter; prattle.
A tattletale.

Origin of tattle

Middle English tatelen to stammer probably from Middle Dutch of imitative origin

Related Forms:

tat′tling·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"tattle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/tattle>.

APA Style

tattle. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/tattle

Verb

(third-person singular simple present tattles, present participle tattling, simple past and past participle tattled)

(intransitive, pejorative) To report others' wrongdoings or violations; to tell on somebody; to gossip or to disclose incriminating information.
(intransitive) To chatter.

Noun

(uncountable)

A tattletale.
Gossip; idle talk.

Origin

Likely akin to M.Du., M.L.G., E.Fris. tateren - "to chatter, babble", possibly of imitative origin. Attested in 1481, in William Caxton's translation of "The History of Reynard the Fox" in the sense "to stutter", probably borrowed from Middle Dutch.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.