- a person who tattles; gossip
- any of several sandpipers of the genus Heteroscelus, such as H. incanus (Polynesian tattler), of Pacific coastal regions
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
tat•tler
(tat′lər),USA pronunciation n.
- a person who tattles;
telltale. - Birdseither of two shorebirds of the genus Heteroscelus, having a loud, whistling cry.
- Birdsany of various related shorebirds having shrill cries, as the yellowlegs.
- Fisha small bass, Serranus phoebe, of the West Indies and Florida.
- tattle + -er1 1540–50
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
tattler /ˈtætlə/ n
tat•tle /ˈtætəl/USA pronunciation
v., -tled, -tling, n.
v.
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026v.
- to tell something secret about another out of spite:[no object]Don't tattle; it's not friendly.
- tattle on, [~ + on + object] to betray by tattling:Why did you tattle on me?
n. [countable]
- the act of tattling.
tat•tle
(tat′l),USA pronunciation v., -tled, -tling, n.
v.i.
v.t.
n.
tat′tling•ly, adv.
v.i.
- to let out secrets.
- to chatter, prate, or gossip.
v.t.
- to utter idly;
disclose by gossiping.
n.
- the act of tattling.
- idle talk;
chatter;
gossip.
- Dutch tatelen; cognate with Middle Low German tatelen
- 1475–85
'tattler' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):