blather

1 of 2

verb

blath·er ˈbla-t͟hər

blathered; blathering ˈbla-t͟h(ə-)riŋ

intransitive verb

: to talk foolishly at length

—often used with on

blatherer

ˈbla-t͟hər-ər

noun

blather

2 of 2

noun

: voluble nonsensical or inconsequential talk or writing

: stir, commotion

Example Sentences

Noun listening to a lot of blather from politicians about who's to blame for the bad economy wanted to retire quietly and without all the blather of an office send-off

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Isn’t this the same group of folks who love to blather on about the wonders of the free market system?

Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 21 May 2021 Jerome blathered with joy as Tiny walked slowly into her house.

Rion Amilcar Scott, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2019 And when the deed was accomplished, it was considered bad form to blather indecorously about it to media.

National Geographic, 24 May 2019 The people who live in Carbon Hill, and places like it, need attention for so many other reasons than a chuckleheaded mayor blathering nonsense, privately or publicly, about who needs to die in a second Civil War.

al.com, 6 June 2019 In flashback, there was William the philanthropist, hosting fancy fundraisers and sighing as nasty rich people blathered on at him.

The Atlantic, 17 June 2018 So why would announcers blather and babble throughout the performance?

Norman Chad, San Antonio Express-News, 26 Mar. 2018 And the phenomenon of people loudly blathering at concerts is endemic at venues large and small.

George Varga, sandiegouniontribune.com, 15 Mar. 2018 Metcalf asked Shepard why her character said so little when her husband would blather on and on.

Willa Paskin, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2018

Noun

How much better things would have been if time—eight or nine months, say—were set aside to knock off all the blather, kick back, chill.

Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 27 Nov. 2022 Here’s the time-filling round-up of trivia and blather that precedes the much more hard-hitting (yes, that’s a joke) actual red carpet coverage.

oregonlive, 12 Sep. 2022 Last week’s episode saw still more of the seemingly endless resentment Diana feels toward Sutton, along with some blather about who blocked who on social media and on, and on, and for heaven’s sake, grow up, already.

oregonlive, 7 Sep. 2022 Comedy people can’t go on talk shows and blather like actors.

Mikey O'connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Aug. 2022 Hollywood has long churned out dumb, brutal stories, one difference being that today filmmakers no longer need to rationalize carnage with moralizing or blather about heroic codes.

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug. 2022 There was also a lot of blather about that season's philosophical earworms, from cancel culture to gender essentialism.

Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 31 Mar. 2022 Given all the commercials, referee timeout checks and half-time blather, both genders really need a two-hour time limit for a 40-minute game.

Bob Hill, The Courier-Journal, 7 Mar. 2022 Hear this week’s episode, plus all 12 entertaining interviews from last year (including me in full blather), at bit.ly/invite-podcast, or on most podcast platforms.

Washington Post, 8 July 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'blather.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.