different between prattle vs prattery

English

Etymology

From prate +? -le (“early modern English frequentative suffix”). Compare Dutch pruttelen and Dutch preutelen (“to mutter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?æt?l/
• Rhymes: -æt?l

Verb

prattle (third-person singular simple present prattles, present participle prattling, simple past and past participle prattled)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To speak incessantly and in an inconsequential or childish manner; to babble.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prattle

Derived terms

• prattler
• prattlingly

Translations

Noun

prattle (uncountable)

1. Silly, childish talk; babble.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense, Thesaurus:chatter

   • c. 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act I, scene I, line 27

     Mere prattle without practice is all his soldiership.

Translations

References

• prattle, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000)
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “prattle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Platter, partlet, platter

English

Etymology

prat +? -ery

Noun

prattery (uncountable)

1. Foolishness or foolish behaviour.
   • 2004. March 13, “Ian G Batten” (username), “Re: haddock”, in uk.misc, Usenet,

     If an obviously egomanic twit makes wonderful music, should his prattery disqualify him?

   • 2004. July 20, Alastair Down, The Racing Post (London, England), article The Open and Shut Case of the Missing Hub-Caps.

     ...Paying sportsmen obscene sums of money does not necessarily mean they behave badly. Unlike football, there seems to be no correlation between fat cattery and prattery.

   • 2008. Jan 26, Simon Barnes, Tehran Times, article Keep Class Out of it. In sport you are either good enough, or you’re not,

     Marcus Willis... had been driving the coaches at the Lawn Tennis Association to distraction, and with this latest bit of prattery finally pushed his luck too far.

   • 1821. March, Sarah Spencer Lady Lyttelton. Correspondence of Sarah Spencer Lady Lyttelton 1787-1870 (Kessinger Publishing, 2006), page 234

     The Prattery are just come to town.

   • 1871. March 18, Edwin Norris, in The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, Glasgow University[1]

     ...We have hunutu muttabbiltu, which must be instruments musical, see hunutu in my p. 291. I derive it from <unknown language> the viol, or prattery, your nabala.

Related terms

• prattle
• prattler

Translations