as in babble
unintelligible or meaningless talk
to me the baby's speech was simply jabber, but his mother claimed to know exactly what he was saying
Synonyms & Similar Words
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1
as in to chat
to engage in casual or rambling conversation
please do not jabber during the rabbi's sermon
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in to chatter
to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and usually unintelligibly
monkeys jabbering at each other in their cages
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of jabber
Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
And given that these are not professional actors, or even (in most cases) people who aspire to be, LaBeouf’s words to them, full of deadly serious jabber about empathy and ego, are pumped up with an intensity that feels overdone and inappropriate.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 19 May 2025
Worse, such jabber crowds out essential coverage of genuine threats to democracy and the visions of the two parties.
—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
Jacobs-Jenkins renders him as a wry, friendly figure who occasionally takes over the bodies of the other characters to explain what is happening beneath their jabber.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 5 June 2023
That includes many of his new Florida State teammates who have discovered the defensive end’s propensity for jabber.
—Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2022
Incriminating truths are borne along in the ever-rolling stream of online jabber; how can one man’s toxic underpants, nearly two years old, stand a chance against the slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars, still less against the waves of disinformation?
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2022
Ohio State strength coach Mickey Marotti is getting in on the jibber jabber with some Michigan staffers in this clip.
—Nathan Baird, cleveland, 27 Nov. 2021
To paint like that required a meditative focus that was miles from my own internal jabber.
—Molly Crabapple, The New York Review of Books, 8 July 2021
The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Nov. 2025
In an eventual 57-point Hurricanes victory, Stevenson was balling and jabbering about it, too, to every Wildcats pass catcher within earshot.
—Dan Wiederer, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The first half hour is filled with the weirdly neutral techno jargon of soldiers jabbering code words into their headphones to what I (as a know-nothing) am tempted to call Mission Control.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
Meanwhile, Trump cannot stop jabbering about serving a potential third term, a blatant violation of the Constitution’s cap on terms Presidents can serve these days.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 14 Feb. 2025
Sometimes the most confident and extroverted C-suite representatives turn to jabbering wrecks when a camera is placed in front of them.
—Nikos Lemanis, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
In our few minutes, Smoltz indulged a couple of jabbering old sports writers.
—Tom Murphy, arkansasonline.com, 17 Dec. 2024
Asking Eric: These women jabber about the trip I wasn’t invited on.
—R. Eric Thomas, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
Noun
Some children clustered there to jabber and run madly about, while others just wanted attention and knew how to get it.
—Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
And given that these are not professional actors, or even (in most cases) people who aspire to be, LaBeouf’s words to them, full of deadly serious jabber about empathy and ego, are pumped up with an intensity that feels overdone and inappropriate.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 19 May 2025
Worse, such jabber crowds out essential coverage of genuine threats to democracy and the visions of the two parties.
—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
Jacobs-Jenkins renders him as a wry, friendly figure who occasionally takes over the bodies of the other characters to explain what is happening beneath their jabber.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 5 June 2023
That includes many of his new Florida State teammates who have discovered the defensive end’s propensity for jabber.
—Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2022
Incriminating truths are borne along in the ever-rolling stream of online jabber; how can one man’s toxic underpants, nearly two years old, stand a chance against the slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars, still less against the waves of disinformation?
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2022
Ohio State strength coach Mickey Marotti is getting in on the jibber jabber with some Michigan staffers in this clip.
—Nathan Baird, cleveland, 27 Nov. 2021
To paint like that required a meditative focus that was miles from my own internal jabber.
—Molly Crabapple, The New York Review of Books, 8 July 2021
Verb
In the customs line, a knot of United interns jabbered about their plans to stay up all night and catch the flight back to Newark the following morning.
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Nov. 2025
In an eventual 57-point Hurricanes victory, Stevenson was balling and jabbering about it, too, to every Wildcats pass catcher within earshot.
—Dan Wiederer, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
The first half hour is filled with the weirdly neutral techno jargon of soldiers jabbering code words into their headphones to what I (as a know-nothing) am tempted to call Mission Control.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025
Meanwhile, Trump cannot stop jabbering about serving a potential third term, a blatant violation of the Constitution’s cap on terms Presidents can serve these days.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 14 Feb. 2025
Sometimes the most confident and extroverted C-suite representatives turn to jabbering wrecks when a camera is placed in front of them.
—Nikos Lemanis, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
In our few minutes, Smoltz indulged a couple of jabbering old sports writers.
—Tom Murphy, arkansasonline.com, 17 Dec. 2024
Asking Eric: These women jabber about the trip I wasn’t invited on.
—R. Eric Thomas, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jabber
Noun
-
Read a book and sip tea in front of the central fireplace, swim between the indoor and outdoor sections of the glimmering pool, and soak your aching quads in the hot tubs under the evergreens and aspens while listening to the peaceful babble of Gore Creek.—
Sarah Kuta,
Condé Nast Traveler,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Now the babble about them is back.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
So far, he’s been spotted draped in a full-length, white fluffy coat and fire engine-red hat and gloves, watching the women’s downhill race, and casually chatting with onlookers at the curling mixed doubles, adorned in a zip-jacket emblazoned with Team USA players’ faces.—
Sheena McKenzie,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Our winter season continues with Adina Hoffman (recipient of a 2013 Windham-Campbell Prize for Nonfiction) chatting with Michael Kelleher about Georges Perec’s magical and mercurial and maddening An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, translated by Marc Lowenthal.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
In his masterful first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, ghouls and spirits keep chattering away, as if at a corner barbershop, while Abraham Lincoln mourns his dead 11-year-old son, Willie.—
Pico Iyer,
Air Mail,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Voices chattering in Yiddish mingle with clucking chickens, crowing roosters and accordion music drifting through a bustling outdoor market.—
Leslie Katz,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The bizarre reality of daily life in a Southeast Asian scam compound—the tactics, the tone, the mix of cruelty and upbeat corporate prattle—is revealed at an unprecedented level of resolution in a leak of documents to WIRED from a whistleblower inside one such sprawling fraud operation.—
Andy Greenberg,
Wired News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Trump prattles on about the economy while the actors freeze behind him in their ancient Galilee garb.—
Rosa Escandon,
Forbes.com,
13 Apr. 2025
Verb
-
Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said at trial that the custody exchange on the day of the shooting was a ruse for Payne to talk his way back into Lane's life.—
Quinlan Bentley,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Keith Law is doing a live chat today to talk MLB prospects.—
Chris Branch,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
But when the disheveled, withdrawn ex-friend shows up in the locker room gibbering about an evil spirit, Sam is mortified, impulsively knocking to the ground the grungy-looking Mason jar that Tamira has been carrying around.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
18 Sep. 2023
-
For a while, police interest bent toward a Phud who had been warned he might be eliminated from the program, who had seemed almost exultant about the fire and gibbered gleefully about the media spotlight.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
13 Apr. 2018
Verb
-
Reading a book — yes, a real book with pages, gotten from a library or a store, not a Kindle; conversing, face-to-face, with a friend; taking a walk in a park or in the country?—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
6 Feb. 2026
-
No wonder people have lost the ability to converse!—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Perennially delighted and deeply uncool, Tascioni gabbles about the wonders of the city while her interlocutors roll their eyes at her lack of sophistication and taste.—
Lili Loofbourow,
Washington Post,
29 Feb. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Jabber.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jabber. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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