blither
Syllables: bli·ther/ˈblɪðə/US/ˈblɪðəɹ/
blither verb: to talk foolishly; to blather. Also the comparative form of blithe.
Verb
blither (third-person singular simple present blithers, present participle blithering, simple past and past participle blithered)
- To talk foolishly; to blather.
- Personality is what I am aiming at, not mere manners. That is not strong enough for a man who "blithers" as you do.1898 October 1, “Olla Podrida”, in The London Figaro, number 2226, […] Odhams [for] George Slater, →OCLC, page 6, column 2
- If he was to blither, it was only fair that she should bleat back.1903, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, chapter I, in Tea-table Talk, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 20
- Synonyms:
- blether
Noun
blither (countable and uncountable, plural blithers)
- Foolish or nonsensical talk; blather; (countable) an instance of this.
- He also knows if the work of the lyric poet be simply "stringin' blithers together, for fools to sing," that a very large percentage of the literary work of the world has been done in vain and this can by no means be admitted.1883, D[avid] R[ussell] McAnally, “Our English Songs”, in The Philosophy of English Poetry, Columbia, Mo.: Missouri University, →OCLC, page 131
- To speak about the product of his labour being 'unearned' is equivalent to bathing in a sea of blither. There is no such thing as unearned increment in the product of labour at the point where meat, or wheat, or butter leaves the hands of the producer, for its exchange value represents his wages.1915 July 6, William Ferguson Massey, “Regulation of Trade and Commerce Amendment Bill [Third Reading]”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. First Session, Nineteenth Parliament. […] (House of...
- A foolish person; a fool, an idiot.
- Indeed, it was Mr. Buck's private opinion that in the matter of plants and flowers Sir John and Lady Moulter were "a pair of old blithers."1896, Benjamin Swift [pseudonym; William Romaine Paterson], “Runs between Abbeylands and the Haws”, in Nancy Noon […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 42
- Little Miss Cricket pointed a thicket, prompting the birds to stay. When along came a blither who fired right beside her and frightened Miss Cricket away. Yes, that'll do nicely. And as for a blither, Webster tells us that's an idiot. And it's idiots who make gun-shy dogs.1980 August, Bill Tarrant, “Why the Gun-shy Dog?”, in Jack Samson, editor, Field & Stream, volume LXXXV, number 4, New York, N.Y.: CBS Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 114, column 1
Also used as
blither is also the comparative form of blithe.
Examples of blither in a sentence
- He called you man, but he blithered a lot, you would hardly heed at all what he said— […]1933 July, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Stratus”, in Cloud Howe, London: Jarrolds Publishers […], →OCLC, page...
- Or is blithering perhaps a useful core activity these days?1989, Miles Kington, “Meaningless Phrases”, in Welcome to Kington: The Selected Columns of Miles Kington, London: Canelo Digital...
- You've reduced me down to the dregs / You won't seduce me, though I stand here and beg / I'm blithering, you're dithering, I'm your slithering fool.2009, Arthur Phillips, chapter 13, in The Song is You […], New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 85:
- Mary the maid blithered away, worrying about the state of the coppers in the kitchen, who would collect the hens' eggs […]2020, Richard Holledge, “Betrayal”, in Voices of the Mayflower: The Saints, Strangers and Sly Knaves who Changed the World, Kibworth...
Synonyms of blither
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of blither
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | blithers |
| present participle | blithering |
| past participle | blithered |
| past | blithered |
| Noun | |
| plural | blithers |
Origin of blither
The verb is a variant of blether (Northern England, Scotland), blather (“to say (something foolish or nonsensical); to say (something) in a foolish or overly verbose way; to babble (something); to talk rapidly without making much sense; to cry loudly, blubber”), from Middle English bloderen, blotheren (“to babble; to cry loudly, blubber”), from Old Norse blaðra (“to talk foolishly or inarticulately”), from blaðr (“nonsense”); further etymology uncertain. The noun is a variant of blether, blather (“foolish or nonsensical talk”), either from blether, blather (verb), or from Old Norse blaðr (“nonsense”): see above.
From blithe + -er (suffix forming the comparative forms of adjectives).
Words formed from blither
Words that rhyme with blither
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Questions about blither
- What does blither mean?
- Blither means to talk foolishly; to blather.
- How do you use blither in a sentence?
- He called you man, but he blithered a lot, you would hardly heed at all what he said— […]
- What part of speech is blither?
- Blither can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce blither?
- Blither is pronounced /ˈblɪðə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of blither?
- The past tense of blither is blithered.
Words near blither in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: blither (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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Cite this entry: “blither.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blither. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.