confabulate

American  

[kuhn-fab-yuh-leyt] / kənˈfæb yəˌleɪt /

verb (used without object)

confabulated, confabulating

1. to converse informally; chat.

2. Psychiatry. to replace a gap in one's memory by a falsification that one believes to be true; engage in confabulation.

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confabulate British  

/ kənˈfæbjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to talk together; converse; chat

2. psychiatry to replace the gaps left by a disorder of the memory with imaginary remembered experiences consistently believed to be true See also paramnesia

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Other Word Forms

• confabulation noun
• confabulator noun
• confabulatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of confabulate

First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin confābulātus (past participle of confābulārī “to talk together, discuss”); see con- ( def. ), fable ( def. ), -ate ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

Confabulate is a fancy way of saying “talk.” If you’re feeling formal, you don’t chat with your best friend on the phone, you confabulate. Regular people talk, people wearing tuxedos and beaded evening gowns confabulate. Confabulate means to talk, but it also refers to creating a memory that’s unreal, like a fable, without being aware of it. If you suffer from memory loss, you might confabulate to fill in the blanks. The word comes from the Latin com- for "together" and fabulari for "to talk," which comes from fabula for "a tale." Whew. For a long time, confabulate just meant “to talk,” but the psychiatric sense came later.

Example Sentences

“We know people confabulate details in many situations, but it was neat to see this play out in the context of imagination,” McCoy says.

From Scientific American • Jul. 20, 2023

The two proud dowagers, Lady Lynn and Lady Ingram, confabulate together.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Or rather a group of clusters, so placed that a dozen or more housewives could stand at their respective doors, very nearly facing one another, and confabulate without greatly raising their voices.

From A Traveller in Little Things by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)

The forest is their citadel, where, mounted on lofty trees waving in the breeze, they confabulate, and, as naturalists have often described, arm themselves with sticks and stones, and in conscious independence defy all intruders.

From The Emigrant's Lost Son or, Life Alone in the Forest by Anonymous

I shall not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau If birds confabulate or no.

From Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by Bartlett, John