tattletale

noun

ˈta-tᵊl-ˌtāl How to pronounce tattletale (audio)
Definition of tattletalenext
as in informant
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing don't be such a tattletale and tell me about every little thing your sister does

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tattletale That kid has tattletale energy. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2026 People who come forward are called narcs, tattletales and snitches. — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2026 Years later, their youngest daughter, Hannah Burch – now 24 and a mother herself – shared a viral TikTok video reflecting on the unique ways she and her siblings were raised — from rules around being a tattletale to monthly family yardwork and chore expectations. — Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025 Unfortunately, The Croat, being a complete and total tattletale, blabbed to The Dama that Negan had hesitated. — Charlie Mason, TVLine, 11 May 2025 Upsides And Downsides Are At Stake Generative AI can readily be shaped as a tattletale or snitch by an AI maker. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025 The two of them, as though after a party, would have stood at the sink cleaning dishes and wondering which among the attendees was the traitor, the tattletale. — Hazlitt, 26 July 2023 We’re basically guaranteed to see that thing where one person tells Zach that another person is there for the wrong reasons, but then the tattletale winds up consumed by their own vendetta and self-sabotages. — Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2023 One errant tweet, one mistimed joke, one honest opinion overheard by an oversensitive busybody with the shrunken soul of a schoolyard tattletale, and a person’s job can be lost and his reputation destroyed. — James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tattletale
  1. informant
  2. informer
  3. canary
  4. rat
  5. tattler
  6. reporter
Noun
  • Remember those jailhouse informants who claimed Kezer had confessed?
    — Peter Henderson, CBS News, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Detectives relied on confidential informants to bust the operation – an informant who purchased drugs from Robinson blew the operation open.
    — Kelsie Cairns, FOXNews.com, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of informant
Noun
  • One of State Security’s main goals, as well as a central source of its strength, is turning civilians into informers.
    — Abraham Jiménez Enoa, The Dial, 19 May 2026
  • And so every regime invests in having student informers.
    — Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2026
Definition of informer
Noun
  • Interspersed throughout the myriad activations of Monterey Car Week is the most important facet for the collector community, and that’s the array of auctions that serve as either an optimistic barometer reading or an ailing canary in the coal mine.
    — Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Kevin Tubbs grew up in a comfortable suburb outside Omaha, Nebraska, in a canary-yellow ranch house filled with dogs.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 July 2026
Definition of canary
Noun
  • The Cubs are led by experienced players, baseball gym rats who enjoy digging into the game’s little details and discussing the finer points of their craft.
    — Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • William Gottlieb’s suit also notes that Urban Zen hosts catered gatherings that generate food garbage, therefore creating fodder for the rats.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of rat
Noun
  • Tattling to the Bachelor doesn’t always go well for the tattler.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner, hired him to replace a British editor who had turned it from a brash, tough-guy paper into a tattler of celebrity gossip and supermarket tabloid stunts.
    — Robert D. McFadden, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2020
Definition of tattler
Noun
  • The referendum campaign has fueled debate about Iceland’s place in the world, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir told reporters after casting her ballot in ​the capital on Saturday.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Canales told reporters postgame that Evans’ absence was related to a neck injury.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of reporter

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Cite this Entry

“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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