Meaning

6 senses
  1. (intransitive)To utter words indistinctly or unintelligibly; to utter inarticulate sounds

    The men were babbling, so we couldn't make sense of anything.

    brabbeln, murmeln

    бормота́тьbormotátʹ, лепета́тьlepetátʹ

    базі́катиbazíkaty, галама́гатиhalamáhaty

    utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way

  2. (intransitive)To talk incoherently; to utter meaningless words.

    бурмоті́тиburmotíty, бурмота́тиburmotáty, буркота́тиburkotáty

    to talk foolishly

  3. (intransitive)To talk too much; to chatter; to prattle.

    She babbled on for hours about the importance of some new gadget.

    schwätzen, plappern, babbeln

    болта́тьboltátʹ, трепа́тьсяtrepátʹsja

    базі́катиbazíkaty

  4. (intransitive)To make a continuous murmuring noise, like shallow water running over stones.

    Hounds are said to babble, or to be babbling, when they are too noisy after having found a good scent.

    plätschern, gurgeln

    журча́тьžurčátʹ

    дзюрча́тиdzjurčáty, дзюркота́тиdzjurkotáty, дзюркоті́тиdzjurkotíty

  5. (transitive)To utter in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat words or sounds in a childish way without understanding.

  6. (transitive)To reveal; to give away (a secret).

Examples

35 sentences
  1. Tom doesn't seem to be babbling.

    ruНепохоже, чтобы Том бормотал.

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  2. I do tend to babble at times.

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  3. It sounds like somebody who's just babbling.

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  4. What're you babbling about?

    ruО чём ты бормочешь?

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  5. Would you stop babbling?

    deWürdest du aufhören, zu plappern?

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Translations

8 languages
Українська
By meaning 3
to utter words indistinctly:
to talk incoherently:
to make a continuous murmuring noise:
Русский
By meaning 3
to utter words indistinctly:
to talk too much:
to make a continuous murmuring noise:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
to utter words indistinctly:
to talk too much:
to make a continuous murmuring noise:

Origin

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”)

From Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-West Germanic *bablōn, *wablōn, variants of *babalōn, from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the two, possibly ultimately onomatopoeic/mimicry of infantile sounds (compare babe, baby).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

babbles, babbling, babbled, babbled
Base formbabble · to babble
3rd person singularbabbles
Present participlebabbling
Past simplebabbled
Past participlebabbled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theybabble
he, she, itbabbles

Past simpleLesson

all personsbabbled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave babbled
he, she, ithas babbled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill babble

Synonyms

18 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

6 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
babble — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto