drivel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɹɪv.əl/
rhymes: -ɪvəl
Forms: form: drivels
Etymology: From Middle English dravel, dribil, a deverbal from drevelen, drivelen (Etymology 2).
Senses: examples: text: “You pay too much attention to such insipid drivel in even mentioning it.”
ref: 1879, Henry James, chapter XVII, in Confidence, London: Chatto & Windus:
text: But what drivel I am writing! It is just an attempt to pass the weary time.
ref: 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
text: A ray of light amid all this nonsense was Gwyn Topham's piece in the Guardian, which was timely, measured, accurate and of appropriate tone. That this single report stood out so clearly as an exemplar is a scathing comment in itself on the volumes of drivel surrounding it.
ref: 2020 August 26, Nigel Harris, “Comment Special: Catastrophe at Carmont”, in Rail, page 4:
text: “Yeah, wading down into the comments. "Winsomely compelling cop-aganda," says C-Rob-69. Oh, wait, that was me.” “Drivel for the unwashed. The Bard, how he weeps.”
ref: 2024 November 25, Max Brockman, “P.I. Undercover: New York” (1:41 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 8, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch):
synonyms: word: absurdity
word: all my eye
word: all my eye and Betty Martin
word: applesauce
word: bafflegab
word: balderdash
word: balls
word: baloney
word: banana oil
word: Bandini
word: baragouin
word: batcrap
word: batshit
word: bilgewater
word: blah
word: blather
word: blatherskite
word: bobbins
word: bollocks
word: bosh
word: BS
word: bull
word: bullcrap
word: bulldust
word: bull feathers
word: bullshit
word: bullspeak
word: bunk
word: bunkum
word: bushwah
word: clamjamfrey
word: claptrap
word: cobblers
word: codswallop
word: crap
word: crock
word: crock of shit
word: double Dutch
word: double talk
word: doublespeak
word: dribble
word: drivel
word: eyewash
word: fiddle-faddle
word: flapdoodle
word: flim-flam
word: flizz
word: flummery
word: folderol
word: foolishness
word: footle
word: framis
word: fuckery
word: fuckry
word: fudge
word: galimatias
word: garbage
word: garble
word: gibber
word: gibberish
word: gobbledygook
word: gossip
word: Greek
word: guff
word: gup
word: hoax
word: hocus-pocus
word: hogwash
word: hokum
word: hooey
word: horsefeathers
word: horse hockey
word: horse piss
word: horse puckey
word: horseshit
word: humbug
word: Irish bull
word: jabber
word: jargon
word: jibber-jabber
word: jimjam
word: jive
word: junk
word: lallation
word: macaroni
word: malarkey
word: manure
word: meaninglessness
word: moonshine
word: mumbo jumbo
word: nertz
word: nonsense
word: pie in the sky
word: piffle
word: pigswill
word: poppycock
word: prattle
word: put-on
word: rhubarb
word: rhubarb rhubarb
word: rigmarole
word: rot
word: rubbish
word: ruse
word: santorum
word: shit
word: shite
word: skimble-skamble
word: squit
word: stuff
word: stuff and nonsense
word: tommy-rot
word: tosh
word: tush
word: trash
word: tripe
word: twaddle
word: wass
word: whiff-whaff
word: word salad
glosses: Nonsense; senseless talk.
examples: text: He pauses as I wipe the drivel from his chin.
ref: 1997, Mike Allen, “Super Shopper”, in Fresh from Mount Salvage, Elizabethtown, Ky.: Light Lines Press, →ISBN, page 122:
text: He wiped drivel from his chin with a stubby forearm.
ref: 2008, Jeff Stone, chapter 8, in Eagle (The Five Ancestors; 5), New York, N.Y.: Yearling, Random House Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 57:
text: She wipes some drivel from his chin with a Kleenex, which she throws away in the bin, then sits and clasps his hand in hers.
ref: 2012, Roland Curram, “Life Changes”, in The Problem with Happiness, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, part 1, page 82:
glosses: Saliva, drool.
Derived terms: drivelous