Library / English Dictionary

CONFABULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have a conference in order to talk something over

Example:

We conferred about a plan of action

Synonyms:

confab; confabulate; confer; consult

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "confabulate" is one way to...):

discuss; hash out; talk over (speak with others about (something); talk (something) over in detail; have a discussion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "confabulate"):

collogue (confer secretly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

confabulation (an informal conversation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Talk socially without exchanging too much information

Example:

the men were sitting in the cafe and shooting the breeze

Synonyms:

chaffer; chat; chatter; chew the fat; chit-chat; chitchat; claver; confab; confabulate; gossip; jaw; natter; shoot the breeze; visit

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "confabulate" is one way to...):

converse; discourse (carry on a conversation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "confabulate"):

jawbone; schmoose; schmooze; shmoose; shmooze (talk idly or casually and in a friendly way)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

confabulation (an informal conversation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Unconsciously replace fact with fantasy in one's memory

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "confabulate" is one way to...):

cook up; fabricate; invent; make up; manufacture (concoct something artificial or untrue)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

confabulation ((psychiatry) a plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered)

Credits