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palaver

pa·lav·er
P p

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [puh-lav-er, ‐lah-ver]
    • /pəˈlæv ər, ‐ˈlɑ vər/
    • /pəˈlɑː.vər/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [puh-lav-er, ‐lah-ver]
    • /pəˈlæv ər, ‐ˈlɑ vər/

Definitions of palaver word

  • noun palaver a conference or discussion. 1
  • noun palaver a long parley, especially one between primitive natives and European traders, explorers, colonial officials, etc. 1
  • noun palaver profuse and idle talk; chatter. 1
  • noun palaver persuasive talk; flattery; cajolery. 1
  • verb without object palaver to talk profusely and idly. 1
  • verb without object palaver to parley or confer. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of palaver

First appearance:

before 1720
One of the 49% newest English words
1720-30; < Portuguese palavra word, speech, talk < Late Latin parabola parable

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Palaver

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

palaver popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 78% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

palaver usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for palaver

noun palaver

  • banana — Bananas are long curved fruit with yellow skins.
  • beeswax — Beeswax is wax that is made by bees and used especially for making candles and furniture polish.
  • blah-blah — and so on; and so forth.
  • brogue — If someone has a brogue, they speak English with a strong accent, especially Irish or Scots.
  • bss — British Standards Specification

verb palaver

  • blathering — foolish, voluble talk: His speech was full of the most amazing blather.
  • bs — BS is an abbreviation for 'British Standard', which is a standard that something sold in Britain must reach in a test to prove that it is satisfactory or safe. Each standard has a number for reference.
  • chaffer — to haggle or bargain
  • chatter — If you chatter, you talk quickly and continuously, usually about things which are not important.
  • chew the fat — If people chew the fat, they talk in a relaxed, informal way.

Top questions with palaver

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See also

Matching words

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