TATTLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tattle mean? 

• TATTLE (noun)
  The noun TATTLE has 1 sense:

1. disclosing information or giving evidence about another

  Familiarity information: TATTLE used as a noun is very rare.

• TATTLE (verb)
  The verb TATTLE has 2 senses:

1. speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

2. divulge confidential information or secrets

  Familiarity information: TATTLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TATTLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disclosing information or giving evidence about another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

singing; tattle; telling

Hypernyms ("tattle" is a kind of...):

disclosure; revealing; revelation (the speech act of making something evident)

Derivation:

tattle (divulge confidential information or secrets)

• TATTLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tattle    ... he / she / it tattles   
Past simple: tattled   
Past participle: tattled   
-ing form: tattling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

blab; blabber; chatter; clack; gabble; gibber; maunder; palaver; piffle; prate; prattle; tattle; tittle-tattle; twaddle

Hypernyms (to "tattle" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tattle"):

babble; blather; blether; blither; smatter (to talk foolishly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Divulge confidential information or secrets

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

babble; babble out; blab; blab out; let the cat out of the bag; peach; sing; spill the beans; talk; tattle

Context example:

Be careful--his secretary talks

Hypernyms (to "tattle" is one way to...):

break; bring out; disclose; discover; divulge; expose; give away; let on; let out; reveal; uncover; unwrap (make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret)

Verb group:

spill; talk (reveal information)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

tattle (disclosing information or giving evidence about another)

tattler (someone who gossips indiscreetly)

 Context examples 

The attentions of a certain person can hardly be among the tittle-tattle of Highbury yet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

It took its rise out of the tittle-tattle and tale-bearing which had been the cause of Johnson’s beating, and from the noise we heard, and from the sight of the bruised men next day, it was patent that half the forecastle had soundly drubbed the other half.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Well, they can eat beef and bread and butter, if they are hungry, only it's mortifying to have to spend your whole morning for nothing, thought Jo, as she rang the bell half an hour later than usual, and stood, hot, tired, and dispirited, surveying the feast spread before Laurie, accustomed to all sorts of elegance, and Miss Crocker, whose tattling tongue would report them far and wide.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)