What does "gab" mean?
Idle chatter.
Gab
/ɡæb/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Idle chatter.
- Grammar: gab is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: chitchat, gossip, small talk, accent.
- Useful contrasts: candor, frankness, hush.
- Usage evidence: You sure gab a lot don't you? You're a natural born talker.
How to use "gab"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "gab" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "gab" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "gab" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "gab" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "gab" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "chitchat" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "gab", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Idle chatter. countable, uncountable
"Ah, find some chirk in ye, lad. Now is the time for gab and chatter. Y’best be enjoying it. Come a fortnight and the brace of us’ll be wantin’ to be ever silent as the tomb. Even to clap eyes on each other... It’ll make y’hotter than hell!"
- 2 Initialism of gender-atypical behavior. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable
- 3 light informal conversation for social occasions wordnet
- 4 The mouth or gob. countable, uncountable
- 5 One of the open-forked ends of rods controlling reversing in early steam engines. countable, uncountable
"Loose eccentric reversing gear gave way about 1836 to the early forms of gab motion. [...] In 1840 Stephenson evolved a motion in which the gabs were connected directly to the valve spindle."
Verb
- 1 To jest; to tell lies in jest; exaggerate; lie. intransitive, obsolete
"He would chant his own doughty deeds, and “gab,” as the Norman word was, in painful earnest, while they gabbed only in sport, and outvied each other in impossible fanfaronades”"
- 2 talk profusely wordnet
- 3 To talk or chatter a lot, usually on trivial subjects. intransitive
""That Mrs. Mender gives a bloke the ear-ache; thinks a bloke's got all day to waste listening to her gab.""
- 4 To speak or tell falsely. obsolete, transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Gabriel.
Example
"You sure gab a lot don't you? You're a natural born talker."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "gab"?
Common synonyms include: chitchat, gossip, small talk, accent, accents, babble.
How do you use "gab" in a sentence?
You sure gab a lot don't you? You're a natural born talker.
How do you pronounce "gab"?
Pronounced /ɡæb/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English gab, gabbe, from Old Norse gabb (“jest, mockery”) (whence also Old French gab, gap (“mockery, derision, scorn”)). Cognate with Icelandic gabb (“hoax”).
Etymology 2
From Middle English gabben, from Old English gabban (“to scoff, mock, delude, jest”) and Old Norse gabba (“to mock, make sport of”); both from Proto-Germanic *gabbōną (“to mock, jest”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to be split, be forked, gape”). Cognate with Scots gab (“to mock, prate”), North Frisian gabben (“to jest, sport”), Middle Dutch gabben (“to mock”), Middle Low German gabben (“to jest, have fun”).
Etymology 3
Clipping of Gabriel.