babbling
part of speech
verb (babble, babbles, babbled, babbling — -ing form); adjective (babbling); noun (babbling — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) Babbling is talking quickly in a silly, excited or confusing way, so it is hard to understand or not very sensible. tree →
2) Babbling is the sound babies make — «ba-ba-ba, da-da» — before they can say real words. tree →
3) A babbling brook or stream makes a soft, bubbling, continuous sound as water runs over stones. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons on growing up, babbling is a stage of learning to talk, at about 6–9 months. In stories, «a babbling brook» is a peaceful countryside image, and a babbling character is nervous or over-excited. Everyday: «Stop babbling and tell me what happened!»
examples
- The baby was babbling happily in her cot. tree →
- He was so nervous he started babbling. tree →
- We sat beside a babbling brook. tree →
- Stop babbling and tell me slowly. tree →
- Babbling is how babies practise sounds. tree →
- The excited children were babbling about the trip. tree →
- I could hear the stream babbling under the bridge. tree →
note
From «babble» (drop the e: babbling). Usually a little rude about grown-ups or older children, but kind about babies and streams. Similar: chatter, gabble, prattle.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «babbling» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.