Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Prattle |
PrattleNoun1. Idle or foolish and irrelevant talk. Verb1. Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "prattle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Synonyms: PrattleSynonyms: blether (n), chin music (n), idle talk (n), prate (n), blab (v), blabber (v), chatter (v), clack (v), gabble (v), gibber (v), maunder (v), palaver (v), piffle (v), tattle (v), tittle-tattle (v), twaddle (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Loquacity | Verb: be loquacious; Adjective: talk glibly, pour forth, patter; prate, palaver, prose, chatter, prattle, clack, jabber, jaw; blather, blatter, blether; rattle, rattle on; twaddle, babble, gabble; outtalk; talk oneself out of breath, talk oneself hoarse; expatiate; (speak at length); gossip; (converse); din in the ears; (repeat); talk at random, talk nonsense; be hoarse with talking. |
Jaw; gabble; jabber, chatter; prate, prattle, cackle, clack; twaddle, rattle; caquet, caquetterie; blabber, bavardage, bibble-babble, gibble-gabble; small talk; (converse). | |
Speech | Noun: speech, faculty of speech; locution, talk, parlance, verbal intercourse, prolation, oral communication, word of mouth, parole, palaver, prattle; effusion. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Prattle |
| English words defined with "prattle": Pittle-pattle, Prattled, Prattlement, Prittle-prattle. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "prattle": PRATTLE BROTH, PRITTLE PRATTLE. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "prattle": Prittle-prattle. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I distinctly remember sitting here, listening to Carter prattle on about solar activity and a corona something (Stargate SG-1; writing credit: Robert C. Cooper; Brad Wright) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Play | Caption |
 | Blubbering; burble; chatter; clamor; drivel; gab; gabble; gibberish; jabber; jabbering; muttering; murmur; prattle; ranting; burbling; gabbing; horse; stallion. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Epictetus | Who is not attracted by bright and pleasant children, to prattle, to creep, and to play with them? |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He spent hours seeing her dress and undress her doll, and listening to her song and prattle. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Prattle" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 43.75% of the time. "Prattle" is used about 32 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 43.75% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 31.25% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 25% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Total | 100.00% | 32 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "prattle": prittle prattle. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "prattle": prattle-box. | |
Ending with "prattle": Prittle-prattle. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
prattle | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "prattle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | llap (babble, prate, tattle), dërdëllitje (chatter, gibber, gibberish, giber, prate, talk shop, verbiage, yak, yapping), dërdëllit (babble, chatter, clack, gab, gibber, harp on, jabber, yap), dërdëllisje (chatter, gibber, gibberish, giber, prate, talk shop, verbiage, yak, yapping), dërdëllis (babble, chatter, clack, gab, gibber, harp on, harp on the same string, jabber, yap), cicëritje, cicërin (peep, pip). (various references) | |
Arabic | كلام فارغ (balderdash, bosh, bunk, drivel, empty talk, fiddle-faddle, idle talk, nonsense, poppycock, twaddle), هذر الأطفال, صوت متكرر لا معنى له, أفشى السر (be indiscreet, give away, spill, tell), أطلق أصواتا, ثرثرة (babble, blab, blabber, boastfulness, breeze, cackle, chat, chatter, clatter, gab, gabble, garrulity, gas, gibberish, jabber, jactitation, logorrhea, loquacity, patter, prate, rattle, talkativeness, tattler, tittle tattle, twaddle, yap), ثرثر كالطفل, ثرثر (babble, blab, blabber, bluster, chatter, clack, clatter, crack, gabble, gas, gibber, give oneself airs, gossip, jabber, jangle, jaw, natter, palaver, patter, prate, quack, rap, rumble, shoot one's mouth off, smatter, talk, tattle, twaddle, twitter, yap). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | бърборя (babble, cank, gab, jabber, natter, prate, rattle, tattle), бърборене (chatter, gab, prate, rattle, tattle), бъбря (burble, chatter, prate, rap, talk, tittle tattle, yarn), брътвеж (babble, chat, footle, palaver, prate, quack, rigmarole, wash), приказки (jaws, talk), приказвам (jaw, natter, shoot, speak, talk), плямпане (babble), плямпам (babble, chat, gas, prate), детско бърборене. (various references) | |
Czech | dìtské žvatlání, žvatlat (babble, chatter, gurgle), žvanit (babble, blab, burble, cackle, gabble, gas, natter, palaver, pettifog, piffle, prate, rattle, spout, talk, tattle, tittle tattle, twaddle, waffle, yap), žvanìní (cackle, chatter, chitchat, claptrap, double talk, flapdoodle, flubdub, gab, gas, piffle, prate, rigmarole, tattle, twaddle, waffle, wind). (various references) | |
Farsi | پرگوءی کردن , ورور (Buzz), ورزدن (Gibber), حرف مفت زدن . (various references) | |
Finnish | höpistä (mumble). (various references) | |
French | papoter, papotage, jaser (prate), jacasserie, jacasser, jacassement, gazouiller, causer (produce), bavarder, bavardage (prate), babiller, babil. (various references) | |
German | plauderne. (various references) | |
Greek | γλωσσοκοπανώ (chatter), μωρολογώ (drivel, drool, fudge, piffle, twaddle), μωρολογία (babble, drivel, fudge, prittle prattle, rigmarole, twaddle), πολυλογώ (gabble, prate), πολυλογία (chatter, gab, garrulousness, loquacity, talkativeness, twaddle, verbalism, verbalization, verbiage, verboseness, verbosity), φλυαρία (babble, babblement, cackle, chatter, chin wagging, chit chat, claptrap, gab, gabble, garrulity, garrulousness, loquacity, palaver, prate, prittle prattle, rattle, tittle tattle, yapp). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לל"ו' (jabber, pronounce, talk nonsense), לפטפט (babble, blather, chat, chatter, gabble, gossip, jabber, palaver, prate, shoot ones mouth off), ל"' ות (idle talk), ל"' (argot, dialect, nonsense, patter), פטפוט (babble, chat, chatter, garrulity, small talk), פטפטת (chatter, garrulity). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gagyogás (babble, chirp, chirping, crow, crowing), csacsogás (chaffering, jabber). (various references) | |
Indonesian | cakap-cakap (chatter). (various references) | |
Italian | cinguettio (chirp, chirping, chirrup, twitter, twittering), cianciare (babble, prate, waffle, yammer), balbettio (babble, stammer). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | べろべろ舐める (be very hungry, chattering, closely, cross, cross out, fast, fawn, flat, fraud, no good, swindle, to lick up with one's tongue). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぺちゃくちゃ (chattering). (various references) | |
Manx | pleateil (converse, prate, talk), pleat (pleat, talk, talk conversation, volubility), cabberaght (gab, garrulity, jaw, wagging tongue), cabberagh (garrulous, prattler), beealeragh (blabber, mocking, tattling). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | attlepray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | murmurar (bicker, brawl, bubble, coo, croon, gossip, groan, grumble, gurgle, ha, hum, lip, murmur, mutter, purl, repine, sough, whisper), conversa infantil, cavaqueira (chat), balbuciação (babble, babbling, mumble, mumbling, mutter, muttering, stammer, stammering, stutter, stuttering). (various references) | |
Romanian | pãlãvrãgealã (chatter, chit chat, crack, gabble, prate, rigmarole), trãncãni (Bab, babble, cackle, clack, clash, clatter, cosher, gab, gibber, gossip, jabber, jangle, Maunder, natter, palaver, prate, rattle, talk, tattle, yap), susura (babble, Bicker, brawl, chatter, gurgle, hum, murmur, Pearl, purl, ripple, swish), susur (babble, brawl, chatter, gurgle, murmur, ripple, warble, whisper), murmura (babble, Bicker, brawl, breathe, chatter, croak, growl, grumble, gurgle, kick, moan, mumble, murmur, mutter, Pearl, purl, ripple, round, rustle, sough, warble, whisper), murmur (babble, babbling, Bicker, brawl, chatter, garrulity, hum, moan, mumbling, murmur, mutter, rhubarb, ripple, rustle, rustling, warble), gângurit (babble, cooing, prattling), flecãri (babble, blab, blether, cackle, chatter, gossip, humbug, palaver, prate, rattle, talk, tattle, tittle tattle), flecãrealã (babble, cackle, chatter, chit chat, gabble, gossip, patter, prate, talk, tattle, tittle tattle). (various references) | |
Russian | лепетать лепет (babble), болтать (blab, cank, chat, chatter, chin, confabulate, cosher, gab, haver, jabber, natter, prate, rattle, shoot the breeze, tattle, twitter, witter). (various references) | |
Scottish | lon (a rope of raw hides: possibly a condensation of lomhain, elk). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | razglabati, brbljati (babble, jabber, jaw, patter, yak, yap), brbljanje (babblement, blabber, blather, gab, gibber, jive, twaddle). (various references) | |
Spanish | parloteo (babble, babbling, cackle, chatter, gabble, gossip, prate, small talk, yap), parlotear (babble, cackle, chatter, gab, gabble, gas, natter, prate, tattle, waffle, yap), charlar (chat, chatter, chin, gab, gas, gossip, jaw, natter, prate, shoot the bull, talk, visit, yap), cháchara (babble, babbling, chatter, chitchat, gab, jaw, talk, yak), balbuceo (babble, babblement, babbling, lisp, mumble, splutter, stammer), balbucear (babble, fumble, lisp, mumble, splutter, stammer, stutter). (various references) | |
Swedish | pladder (babble, blather, chatter, clack, gab, gabble, jabber, patter, rattle, wish-wash, yackety-yak), babbla (babble, gabble, gibber, jabber, jaw, jibber, palaver, prate, rap, waffle). (various references) | |
Turkish | gevezelik etmek (babble, blab, cackle, chat, chatter, clack, gabble, gossip, natter, prate, tattle), gevezelik (babbling, cackle, chattering, chinwag, chitchat, clack, comment, gab, gabble, garrulity, gossip, indiscretion, jaw, jive, loquaciousness, loquacity, mouthiness, prate, rattle, talkativeness, talky-talk, tattle, volubility, windiness, yap), çocukça konuşma, çocuk gibi konuşmak, çene çalmak (chat, chatter, chew the fat, chew the rag, chinwag, chitchat, gossip, have a gossip, jaw, visit), çene çalma (crack, gabfest). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | теревенети, лепетати (babble, chipper, lisp), лепет (babble), балачки (badinage, clabber, noise). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | chuyện tầm phơ, chuyện phiếm (chat, confab, small talk), chuyện dớ dẩn trẻ con. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | garriens, garrient. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "prattle": prattled, prattler, prattlers, prattles. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "prattle": sprattle. (additional references) | |
Words containing "prattle": sprattled, sprattles. (additional references) | |
| |
"Prattle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Crittle, Pattle, praddle, pratel, Pratie, pratile, pratoe, pratte, Prechtl, Prittie, protel, prottle, pyrantel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "prattle" (pronounced pra"tul) |
| 5 | -r a" t u l | brattle, rattle. |
| 4 | -a" t u l | battle, cattle, chattel, embattle, tattle. |
| 3 | -t u l | infantile, infertile, accidental, acquittal, anecdotal, artiodactyl, beetle, belittle, betel, bicoastal, bottle, Bristol, brittle, brutal, butyl, Cantle, capital, Capitol, chortle, coastal, coincidental, committal, compartmental, congenital, consonantal, continental, crustal, crystal, dental, detrimental, developmental, digital, disgruntle, dismantle, distal, ductile, elemental, entitle, environmental, experimental, extramarital, fatal, fertile, fetal, fractal, frontal, fundamental, futile, genital, gentle, glottal, governmental, horizontal, hospital, hostel, hostile, hurtle, immortal, immotile, incidental, incremental, spittle, startle, subtitle, subtle, supplemental, tactile, temperamental, instrumental, intercontinental, intergovernmental, judgmental, kettle, Kittel, Kittle, lentil, lintel, little, mantel, mantle, marital, mental, metal, mettle, monumental, mortal, motile, Myrtle, Natal, neonatal, nettle, noncommittal, nonfatal, nongovernmental, nonvolatile, occidental, occipital, orbital, oriental, ornamental, parental, parietal, pedestal, periodontal, petal, Pistil, pistol, pivotal, portal, postal, postnatal, Pottle, prefrontal, premarital, prenatal, projectile, quintal, rebuttal, recital, rectal, regimental, rental, resettle, scuttle, sentimental, settle, shuttle, skeletal, skittle, societal, throttle, title, tittle, tootle, total, transcendental, transcontinental, transmittal, turtle, unsentimental, unsettle, unsubtle, varietal, vegetal, versatile, vestal, vital, vittle, volatile, Whittle, Wintle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: partlet, platter. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-l-p-r-t-t" | |
-1 letter: latter, palter, patter, plater, rattle. | |
-2 letters: alert, alter, apter, artel, later, latte, leapt, lepta, paler, palet, parle, pater, pearl, peart, petal, plate, pleat, prate, ratel, taler, taper, tater, tepal, tetra, trapt, treat. | |
-3 letters: aper, earl, late, leap, lear, lept, pale, pare, part, pate, peal, pear, peat, pelt, pert, plat, plea, prat, rale, rape. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-l-p-r-t-t" | |
+1 letter: partlets, platters, prattled, prattler, prattles, splatter, sprattle. | |
+2 letters: paltriest, prattlers, prebattle, saltpeter, splatters, sprattled, sprattles. | |
+3 letters: graptolite, interplant, intraplate, petrolatum, platterful, rattletrap, saltpeters, splattered, streetlamp, terneplate, tetraploid, transeptal, tripletail, triplicate, wentletrap. | |
+4 letters: apartmental, bipartitely, breastplate, centripetal, extrapolate, graptolites, interplants, interpolate, letterspace, particulate, partitively, paternalist, patternless, peristaltic, petrolatums, platterfuls, plattersful, preallotted, preliterate, proletariat, protectoral, protoplanet, protractile, pterodactyl, rattletraps, repentantly, splattering, streetlamps, temperately, temporality, terneplates, tetraploids, tetraploidy, tripletails, triplicated, triplicates, wentletraps. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Sounds 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
