gossip

[ gos-uhp ]

noun

1. idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others:

   the endless gossip about Hollywood stars.

   Synonyms: chitchat, palaver, hearsay, small talk

2. light, familiar talk or writing.
3. Also gossiper, gossipper. a person given to tattling or idle talk.

   Synonyms: rumormonger, chatterer

4. Chiefly British Dialect. a godparent.
5. Archaic. a friend, especially a woman.

verb (used without object)

, gos·siped or gos·sipped, gos·sip·ing or gos·sip·ping.

1. to talk idly, especially about the affairs of others; go about tattling.

   Synonyms: palaver, prate, prattle, chatter

verb (used with object)

, gos·siped or gos·sipped, gos·sip·ing or gos·sip·ping.

1. Chiefly British Dialect. to stand godparent to.
2. Archaic. to repeat like a gossip.

gossip

/ ˈɡɒsɪp /

noun

1. casual and idle chat

   to have a gossip with a friend

2. a conversation involving malicious chatter or rumours about other people

   a gossip about the neighbours

3. Also calledgossipmonger a person who habitually talks about others, esp maliciously
4. light easy communication

   to write a letter full of gossip

5. archaic.
   a close woman friend

verb

1. introften foll byabout to talk casually or maliciously (about other people)

Derived Forms

• ˈgossipingly, adverb
• ˈgossiping, nounadjective
• ˈgossipy, adjective
• ˈgossiper, noun

Other Words From

• gos·sip·ing·ly adverb
• in·ter·gos·sip verb intergossiped or intergossipped intergossiping or intergossipping
• un·gos·sip·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gossip¹

First recorded before 1050; Middle English gossib, godsib(be), Old English godsibb, originally “godparent,” equivalent to god + sibb “related”; god, sib

Word History and Origins

Origin of gossip¹

Old English godsibb godparent, from god + sib ; the term came to be applied to familiar friends, esp a woman's female friends at the birth of a child, hence a person, esp a woman, fond of light talk

Synonym Study

Gossip, scandal apply to idle talk and newsmongering about the affairs of others. Gossip is light chat or talk: to trade gossip about the neighbors. Scandal is rumor or general talk that is damaging to reputation; it is usually more or less malicious: The town never lived down the election scandal.

Example Sentences

The dining room, once an outlet for gossip and intrigue, was shuttered and the theater room padlocked.

From ProPublica

Quick chats, catching up over coffee, hallway gossip, late-night laughs with loved ones can be the best gifts of life.

From Fortune

There’s still a little spark of gossip here, names dropped, and stories propped up and left on the roadside for embarrassment or for examination.

From Washington Blade

Bartenders still hear the world, and while that resonance would normally include a mixture of hearsay, local gossip and drowsy one-liners, it has now become a storm of collective struggle.

From Ozy

Farewell to the gossip dispensed at the break room coffee machine.

From Quartz

However much we gossip about heterosexual couples with large age gaps, we at least refrain from calling them sex offenders.

From The Daily Beast

“Women go to the bathroom together and gossip, talk and argue all the time,” Vithi Cuc told The National.

From The Daily Beast

Since I was toiling away at the time as a gossip columnist for The Washington Post, I immediately called him back.

From The Daily Beast

And they sound like gulls, you know, when they sit and gossip in a bar together.

From The Daily Beast

The mayor and Biasi are a popular topic of gossip in Matamoros.

From The Daily Beast

He, with others, thinking the miss-sahib had gone to church, was smoking the hookah of gossip in a neighboring compound.

From Project Gutenberg

Each little family group had had its say and exchanged its domestic gossip earlier in the evening.

From Project Gutenberg

He returned to the hotel, and, eluding a gossip-seeking landlady, went up to his room.

From Project Gutenberg

He talked a good deal on various topics, a little politics, some city news and neighborhood gossip.

From Project Gutenberg

In spite of the character bestowed upon her by her old friend, Mrs. Barford dearly loved a bit of gossip.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• buzz
• chatter
• chitchat
• conversation
• hearsay
• news
• scandal
• slander
• tale