idle talk
1
5.8
- noun
:
charlas vacías
- I do not permit idle talk in the smithy.
- just idle talk
Examples
-
That is idle talk.
-
I would guess that the person you quoted based his opinion on little more than idle talk between guys.
Blog text (14) -
Do not waste time on idle talk.
-
This is all just idle talk.
Blog text (5) -
The Lord doesn't like idle talk.
-
Barfoot is not known to be a man of much idle talk or many words.
Fiction book (1990) -
I simply haven't time to stand here with you, engaging in idle talk.
-
That is, if you choose to avoid idle talk and irrelevant conversations.
Blog text (13) -
The male mourners often refused to attend the church services, preferring, in the words of the Pittsburgh Catholic, to "remain in their carriages... and indulge in idle talk, drinking, and laughter."
Academic text (1990) -
They spent the afternoon engaging in idle talk about celebrities and reality shows.
Synonyms
868
3.2
Informal conversation about other people that may not be true
184
1.1
Informal talk about other people's private lives, often with rumors
87
3.5
Continuous talk about small things, often lively and noisy
65
2.1
Polite short talk about simple topics like the weather
12
7.1
A short friendly talk between people
9
8.3
Loud, continuous talk about unimportant things
7
1.7
Talking about other people's personal lives in a casual way
5
8.7
Silly talk about unimportant things
4
9.7
Unimportant repeating talk that gives no useful information
3
5.1
Talk that has no real meaning and is not useful
1
9.9
Talk that is useless and does not help
1
9.9
Long, silly talk that has no useful meaning
1
9.7
A lot of noisy talking about not important things
1
8.9
Silly or unimportant talk that wastes time
1
4.3
Words that sound important but have no real meaning or action
1
8.0
Words that people say but do not mean
1
9.9
Talk that is silly or not important
1
9.9
Loud, silly talk that has no useful meaning
1
9.5
Light talk between people with little meaning
Light talk about unimportant, silly things people say
Continuous trivial talk that says nothing important
Light friendly talk about small unimportant things, often gossip
Light, silly talk about other people
A friendly, informal talk about personal news
Unclear or silly talk without any real meaning
Antonyms
How Meaningful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'pointless or trivial conversation' is directly and predictably built from 'idle' (silly/meaningless) + 'talk' (conversation), following a transparent adjective+noun composition. This lexical logic is common across languages and in English collocations, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Idle talk comes from the simple image of idle meaning 'not working' and talk meaning 'chat' — imagine people standing around doing nothing and only chatting. That's why idle talk now means 'pointless or trivial conversation'.