babble
part of speech
verb (babble, babbles, babbled, babbling); noun (babble)
meaning for a pupil
1) To talk quickly in a way that is hard to understand or silly: «She babbled about her holiday.» tree →
2) (of a baby) To make speech-like sounds before real words: «ba-ba-ba». tree →
3) (of water) To make a soft, bubbling sound: «a babbling brook». tree →
4) (noun) A noise of many voices at once, or silly talk. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons on growing up, babbling is a stage when babies practise sounds before talking. In stories and poems a «babbling brook» is a gentle stream. In the Bible the Tower of Babel story is often linked (by sound) to «babble». Phrases: «babble on», «a babble of voices», «babbling brook».
examples
- The baby babbled happily in her cot. tree →
- Stop babbling and tell me what happened! tree →
- We sat by a babbling brook. tree →
- A babble of voices filled the canteen. tree →
- He babbled on about his new game for ages. tree →
- Babies babble before they say their first word. tree →
- Then broke forth a rippling, laughing babble among the cone-shaped teepees. tree →
note
Double b in the middle, one l: babble, babbled, babbling. Do not confuse with «bubble». Babbling is not rude for babies, but saying someone «babbles» can sound unkind.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «babble» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.