tattle
verb /ˈtætl/
/ˈtætl/
[intransitive] (informal, disapproving, especially North American English)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they tattle | /ˈtætl/ /ˈtætl/ |
| he / she / it tattles | /ˈtætlz/ /ˈtætlz/ |
| past simple tattled | /ˈtætld/ /ˈtætld/ |
| past participle tattled | /ˈtætld/ /ˈtætld/ |
| -ing form tattling | /ˈtætlɪŋ/ /ˈtætlɪŋ/ |
- tattle (on somebody) (to somebody) to tell somebody, especially somebody in authority, about something bad that somebody else has done synonym tell on somebody
- You should learn that you just don’t tattle on classmates.
Word Originlate 15th cent. (in the sense ‘falter, stammer’, also ‘make meaningless sounds’, referring to a small child): from Middle Flemish tatelen, tateren, of imitative origin.