kibitzer
noun
kə-ˈbit-
Did you know?
The Yiddish language has given English some particularly piquant terms over the years, and kibitzer (or kibbitzer) is one such word. Kibitzer came into English—by way of the Yiddish kibitser—from the German word kiebitzen, meaning "to look on (at a card game)." (Like its ancestor, kibitzer was originally, and sometimes still is, applied to vocal observers of cards as well as other games.) Although kibitzer usually implies the imparting of unwanted advice, there is a respectable body of evidence for a kibitzer as a person simply making comments or even just shooting the breeze.
Synonyms of kibitzer
Examples of kibitzer in a Sentence
IEEE Spectrum, 11 Dec. 2025
Still, there are boundaries to keep the kibitzers out of the law library, operating room and locker room so the experts can get the job done.
—Karla L. Miller, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Feb. 2023
Still, there are boundaries to keep the kibitzers out of the law library, operating room and locker room so the experts can get the job done.
—Karla L. Miller, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2023
These two teamed up on morning radio in 1946 to invent the celebrity-interview talk show, featuring a gamut of guests from Hollywood mermaid Esther Williams to kibitzer-to-presidents Bernard Baruch.
—Edward Kosner, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2022
The problem is partly a failure to appreciate that the Radicals were kibitzers, as many legislators are.
—Andrew Ferguson, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2020
Though all of Mr. Nelson’s Rhinebeck plays have featured strong female characters, in this one, he more or less turns the stage over to them entirely (though Mr. Sanders, wonderful as always, is a gallant kibitzer).
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2016
Cite this Entry
“Kibitzer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kibitzer. Accessed 23 Apr. 2026.
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kibitzer
noun
kə-ˈbit-
