blather
/ˈblæðə(ɹ)/
blather verb: to talk rapidly without making much sense. Also the obsolete form of bladder.
Verb
blather (third-person singular simple present blathers, present participle blathering, simple past and past participle blathered)
- To talk rapidly without making much sense.
- “There you go blatherin’,” said Brindle, intending a mild rebuke.1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XI, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 249
- It was at the unveiling of Sir John Gray's statue. Edmund Dwyer Gray was speaking, blathering away, and here was this old fellow, crabbed-looking old chap, looking at him from under his bushy eyebrows.1905 (date written), James Joyce, “Grace”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 210
- To say (something foolish or nonsensical); to say (something) in a foolish or overly verbose way.
- Then, just before the wedding, the old man feels he’s honor bound to tell his future son-in-law the secret of his past; so the damned idiot blathers the whole story of his killing the man and breaking jail!1929, Eugene O’Neill, Dynamo, New York, N.Y.: Liveright, act I, scene i, page 31
- […] the church attitude has never been that a teacher should be allowed to blather anything that comes into his head without any accountability at all.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, chapter 18, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN, part 3, page 214
Noun
blather (uncountable)
- Foolish or nonsensical talk.
- That is the worst of being in an Irish regiment, nothing can be done widout ever so much blather;1897, G. A. Henty, chapter 1, in With Moore at Corunna, New York: Scribner, page 16
- Will you cease your blather of mutiny and treason and courts-martial?1922, Rafael Sabatini, chapter 23, in Captain Blood, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 265
- Synonyms:
- blither, babble, bavardage, bibble-babble, blab, blabber, blabbing, blathering, chatter, chinwag
Also used as
blather is also the obsolete form of bladder.
blather meaning in Tamil and Arabic
blather in Tamil
- to talk rapidly without making much sense
- உளறு uḷaṟu, பேத்து pēttu
blather in Arabic
- to talk rapidly without making much sense
- بَقَّ baqqa
- foolish or nonsensical talk
- لَغْو laḡw
Examples of blather in a sentence
- On and on he blathered, taking refuge in the one thing he felt lent him superiority: words.2001, Richard Flanagan, “The Pot-Bellied Seahorse”, in Gould’s Book of Fish, New York, N.Y.: Grove Atlantic, published 2014, section 5:
- With years of proofreading under my belt, I knew exactly the blather and bluster favoured by professional politicians.1995, Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, part 5, page 280:
Synonyms of blather
18 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of blather
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | blathers |
| present participle | blathering |
| past participle | blathered |
| past | blathered |
| alternative form | blether |
| Noun | |
| plural | blathers |
Origin of blather
From Middle English bletheren, bloderen, from Old Norse blaðra (“to speak inarticulately, talk nonsense”). Cognate with Scots blether, bladder, bledder (“to blather”), dialectal German bladdern (“to talk nonsense, blather”), Norwegian bladra (“to babble, speak imperfectly”), Icelandic blaðra (“to twaddle”).
Words formed from blather
Words that rhyme with blather
Questions about blather
- What does blather mean?
- Blather means to talk rapidly without making much sense.
- What is blather in Tamil?
- Blather in Tamil is உளறு (uḷaṟu), பேத்து (pēttu). See Blather meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use blather in a sentence?
- On and on he blathered, taking refuge in the one thing he felt lent him superiority: words.
- What part of speech is blather?
- Blather can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce blather?
- Blather is pronounced /ˈblæðə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of blather?
- The past tense of blather is blathered.
Words near blather in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: blather (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-blather.wav.
Cite this entry: “blather.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blather. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.