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# babbling

«babbling» in Mova's school dictionary: **talking quickly in a silly, excited or confusing way, so…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#m1)

2) Babbling is the sound babies make — «ba-ba-ba, da-da» — before they can say real words. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#m2)

3) A babbling brook or stream makes a soft, bubbling, continuous sound as water runs over stones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#m3)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x1)
- He was so nervous he started babbling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x2)
- We sat beside a babbling brook. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x3)
- Stop babbling and tell me slowly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x4)
- Babbling is how babies practise sounds. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x5)
- The excited children were babbling about the trip. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x6)
- I could hear the stream babbling under the bridge. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/#x7)

### 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/babbling/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.