as in informer
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing
don't be such a tattletale and tell me about every little thing your sister does
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Recent Examples of tattletale
The two of them, as though after a party, would have stood at the sink cleaning dishes and wondering which among the attendees was the traitor, the tattletale.
—
Hazlitt, 26 July 2023
We’re basically guaranteed to see that thing where one person tells Zach that another person is there for the wrong reasons, but then the tattletale winds up consumed by their own vendetta and self-sabotages.
—Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2023
One errant tweet, one mistimed joke, one honest opinion overheard by an oversensitive busybody with the shrunken soul of a schoolyard tattletale, and a person’s job can be lost and his reputation destroyed.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
Deciding to become a whistleblower requires some hefty thinking, trying to balance a personal sense of ethical codes versus the potential for being known as an informer or tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 June 2021
The odds are that once self-driving cars become prevalent, the general public will wise up that self-driving cars have this intrinsic capability of being a tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 June 2021
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
Kaila White, 29, also of Phoenix, was a good student and a tattletale while growing up.
—Michelle Rogers, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2020
Was this really all in my head? *** Some families might demonize liars, or tattletales, or people who fall down on some other moral imperative.
—Alyson Pomerantz, Longreads, 3 Sep. 2019
Hazlitt, 26 July 2023
We’re basically guaranteed to see that thing where one person tells Zach that another person is there for the wrong reasons, but then the tattletale winds up consumed by their own vendetta and self-sabotages.
—Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2023
One errant tweet, one mistimed joke, one honest opinion overheard by an oversensitive busybody with the shrunken soul of a schoolyard tattletale, and a person’s job can be lost and his reputation destroyed.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
Deciding to become a whistleblower requires some hefty thinking, trying to balance a personal sense of ethical codes versus the potential for being known as an informer or tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 June 2021
The odds are that once self-driving cars become prevalent, the general public will wise up that self-driving cars have this intrinsic capability of being a tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 June 2021
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
Kaila White, 29, also of Phoenix, was a good student and a tattletale while growing up.
—Michelle Rogers, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2020
Was this really all in my head? *** Some families might demonize liars, or tattletales, or people who fall down on some other moral imperative.
—Alyson Pomerantz, Longreads, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tattletale
Noun
-
Given the increasingly absurd pretexts the state is using for criminal prosecution and the resounding success of informers of all stripes, the judicial crackdown will continue to worsen.—
Andrei Kolesnikov,
Foreign Affairs,
17 May 2024
-
Standing in his way are British spies, French informers and jealous colleagues.—
Liza Foreman,
The Hollywood Reporter,
10 Apr. 2024
Noun
-
Meanwhile, Owen’s former girlfriend Hannah moved on with a new boyfriend for him only to turn out to be a Korean informant, leading to a blunt conversation with Owen as she was being held at a CIA site.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
30 Jan. 2025
-
In one of the drug cases, an undercover officer and confidential informant went to the Higher Ground area in November and made contact with a 52-year-old man.—
Mara H. Gottfried,
Twin Cities,
29 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
This situation makes the NIH a golden goose for universities, and also a canary in a coal mine.—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2025
-
In short, the Amazon is the planet’s canary in the coal mine—its health is directly tied to its survival.—
Michael Sheldrick,
Forbes,
19 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Shanks brilliantly paces the story out with several pieces of foreshadowing, including a rat king as symbolism for toxic codependency, mirroring a gruesome story Tim tells Millie about his father’s death and his mother’s mental health.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
27 Jan. 2025
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Research has shown that Red No. 3 can cause cancer in laboratory rats when exposed to high levels.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner, hired him to replace a British editor who had turned it from a brash, tough-guy paper into a tattler of celebrity gossip and supermarket tabloid stunts.—
Robert D. McFadden,
BostonGlobe.com,
5 Aug. 2020
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Being a tattler or someone who is too focused on the drama rarely works out, largely because those dudes are more focused on screen time than the lead.—
Martha Sorren,
refinery29.com,
20 June 2019
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Cite this Entry
“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
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