JABBER Synonyms: 84 Similar and Opposite Words

jabber 1 of 2

noun

Definition of jabber

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

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jabber

2 of 2

verb

ˈja-bər

as in to chat

to engage in casual or rambling conversation please do not jabber during the rabbi's sermon

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in to chatter

to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and usually unintelligibly monkeys jabbering at each other in their cages

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of jabber

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 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 An older Black man perpetually annoyed by Sterling and Blair's jabber — particularly about the ups and downs of their romances — Bowser only takes on the underage twins as his protégés because the premise of the show demands it. — Inkoo Kang, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Aug. 2020

Verb

Barely over a week ago the artist sat for a public talk, jabbering with fellow painter Dana Schutz. — Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 11 Feb. 2026 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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for jabber

Noun

And three, sometimes four, of those many waking hours are spent in the car — bouncing from home to school to her second or third job and home again — with music at full blast to drown out the babble of anxiety, most of it financial.

— Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2026
Companies modelled after Mary Kay that have reprised empowerment babble for their founders’ gain are mentioned but receive scarce judgment.

— Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 15 July 2026

Definition of babble

Verb

So the two started chatting and wondered if there was a resource where they could get connected to couples having a wedding in their area who needed a seat-filler of sorts.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
The petition, the group chat coordinating the town hall, the livestream of the council vote—all of it runs through the buildings being protested.

— Zev Laine, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of chat

Verb

In the novel, likewise, the narrator assumes an almost Homeric guise, comparing current harbor gossip to chatter from the Phoenician, Cretan, Greek, and Roman eras.

— Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Suspended in a pool, holding onto an oxygen mask as her teeth chattered, Julia Wolf began to seriously consider the possibility of hypothermia.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of chatter

Noun

The Korean Football Association was furious, responding to this juvenile, but ultimately harmless, prattle by boycotting the Korean press.

— E. Tammy Kim, New Yorker, 24 June 2026
Some of the prattle can feel like treading water, a delaying tactic until the inevitable confrontation scene.

— Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026

Definition of prattle

Verb

Publicly, Pacific Fusion talks mostly about its future ability to supply electricity, a promise the fusion industry has made for years.

— Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
The 6,200-square-foot venue spans two levels and features a 700-square-foot dry sauna, an infrared sauna and a 46-degree cold plunge, with dim communal areas built in to encourage guests to linger and talk.

— Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of talk

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

Definition of gibber

Noun

In the eyes of the conferences, and CFP committee, the allure of a postseason bid is the carrot that would dangle in front of them so that fans would look the other way at the nonsense this creates for the football played in September or October.

— Trey Wallace OutKick, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2026
My fellow relishers of Trowbridge nonsense, today is our day of jubilee.

— Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of nonsense

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Style

“Jabber.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jabber. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of jabber

noun

verb

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