Meaning

3 senses
  1. (intransitive)To make small talk or idle chatter.

    Louise and I used to head down to the coffee shop and just sit for hours and kibitz.

    болта́тьboltátʹ

  2. (intransitive)To give unsolicited or unwanted advice or make unhelpful or idle comments, especially to someone playing a game.

    Quit kibitzing! You're giving away my hand!

    подска́зыватьpodskázyvatʹ, подсказа́тьpodskazátʹ, дава́ть непрошенные советыneprošennyje

    make unwanted and intrusive comments

  3. (intransitive, transitive)To watch a card or board game.

    kiebitzen

Examples

2 sentences
  1. My grandma and her friends kibitz for hours.

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  2. After three months in office, the president still kibitzes with television stars.

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Translations

4 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
chit-chat:
give unwanted advice:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to watch a card or board game:

Origin

From Yiddish קיבעצן (kibetsn), cognate to German kiebitzen (“to look on”), from German Kie

From Yiddish קיבעצן (kibetsn), cognate to German kiebitzen (“to look on”), from German Kiebitz (“lapwing”), from Middle High German gibiz (“plover”), imitative of its cry. Compare peewit.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

kibitzes, kibitzing, kibitzed, kibitzed
Base formkibitz · to kibitz
3rd person singularkibitzes
Present participlekibitzing
Past simplekibitzed
Past participlekibitzed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theykibitz
he, she, itkibitzes

Past simpleLesson

all personskibitzed

Present perfectLesson

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

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill kibitz

Synonyms

3 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • make unwanted and intrusive comments:kibbitz

Word family

1 related words
Relatedkibitzer

See also

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