chatter
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.fast, informal conversation about things that are not very important.
n.rapid, informal, and often trivial conversation. Usually uncountable in this sense.
Simple“The constant chatter of the students made it hard for the teacher to start the lesson.”
In context“The background chatter in the lobby was a mix of business negotiations and casual greetings, creating a lively but distracting atmosphere.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the quick, high sounds made by birds or monkeys.
n.the characteristic rapid vocalisations of certain birds or animals, such as magpies or squirrels.
Simple“We woke up to the loud chatter of birds in the trees outside our window.”
In context“The sudden chatter of a squirrel alerted the hikers to a predator lurking in the undergrowth nearby.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a person who uses a chat room or watches a livestream and types messages.
n.a participant in an online chat room or a viewer who contributes to a livestream's real-time text feed.
Simple“The streamer thanked a chatter for donating five dollars during the game.”
In context“The moderator had to ban a disruptive chatter who was repeatedly violating the community guidelines during the broadcast.”
Synonyms - 04 C1 Advanced
n.the amount of communication between groups that police or governments watch.
n.the volume of intercepted communications between suspect groups, monitored to assess the likelihood of coordinated activity.
Simple“Intelligence agencies reported an increase in radio chatter before the event.”
In context“Analysts noted a significant spike in encrypted chatter across several monitored channels, suggesting a high state of operational readiness among the insurgent cells.”
Synonyms - 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.when your teeth click together repeatedly because you are very cold or scared.
v.to click together repeatedly and rapidly, usually as an involuntary physical response to cold or fear.
Simple“His teeth began to chatter as soon as he stepped out into the snow.”
In context“The survivors sat huddled together, their teeth chattering uncontrollably as the temperature in the cabin dropped below freezing.”
“It’s a hazy, lazy joy of a film, brimming with sunlight and rocked by the backwash of chatter and song.”
“If it happened today, it probably wouldn't even move the needle on the background noise of human radio chatter.”
From Middle English chateren, from earlier cheteren, chiteren (“to twitter, chatter, jabber”), of imitative origin. Compare Saterland Frisian tjoaterje (“to chatter”), West Frisian tsjotterje (“to chatter”), Dutch schateren, schetteren (“chatter”), Dutch koeteren (“jabber”), Middle Low German kidderen (“to chatter”), German Low German queteln (“to chatter”), dialectal German kaudern (“to gobble (like a turkey)”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter, chirp”).
chat + -er
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.