Prate
[preɪt] or [pret]
Definition
(v. i.) To talk much and to little purpose; to be loquacious; to speak foolishly; to babble.
(v. t.) To utter foolishly; to speak without reason or purpose; to chatter, or babble.
(n.) Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaning loquacity.
Typist: Lolita
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Prattle, chat, chatter, tattle, babble, gabble, palaver, be loquacious.
v. a. Tell (foolishly), babble, utter, prate about.
n. Prattle, gabble, chatter, twaddle, palaver, idle talk, childish talk.
Checked by Desmond
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Babble, prattle, chat, chatter, tattle, gossip,[See BABBLE]
Checker: Lorrie
Definition
v.i. to talk idly: to tattle: to be loquacious.—v.t. to speak without meaning or purpose: to let out as a secret.—n. trifling talk.—n. Prā′ter one who prates or talks idly.—adj. Prā′ting talking idly or unmeaningly.—n. idle talk.—adv. Prā′tingly.
Edited by Brent
Examples
- We love to hear them prate and drivel and lie. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Thou hast been drinking more than enough, friar, said the woodsman, and, I fear, prating more than enough too. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- An old beau must have time for prating. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Out with the prating villain! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Away with this prating dotard, said Front-de Boeuf, lock him up in the chapel, to tell his beads till the broil be over. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Curb thy prating tongue. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- If I had time, and was not in mortal dread of some prating prig of a servant passing, I would know what all this means. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing? Plato. The Republic.
- Who prates of the tame achievements of Aladdin and the Magii of Arabia? Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- And then they had prated about his manner of loving. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Editor: Lyle