chat

1 friendly, informal conversation or an instance of this short chats between parents and teachers during the school's open house Synonyms backchat, cackle, causerie, chatter, chin music, chin-wag [slang], chitchat, confab, confabulation, gab, gabfest, gossip, jangle, jaw, natter [chiefly British], palaver, patter, rap, schmooze, small talk, table talk, talk, tête-à-tête Related Words colloquy, conference, discourse, parley, powwow, symposium; debate, dialogue (also dialog), exchange, give-and-take; crosstalk, happy talk; yak (also yack), yammer, yap

2 talking or a talk between two or more people a fireside chat between two of America's foremost men of letters Synonyms conversation, colloquy, converse, dialogue (also dialog), discourse, discussion, exchangeRelated Words banter, chaff, cross fire, give-and-take, persiflage, raillery, repartee; conference, parley, powwow; babble, chatter, chin-wag [slang], chitchat, confabulation, gabfest, gossip, natter [chiefly British], palaver, prate, prattle, rap, small talk, table talk; round-robin, roundtable, symposium; debate, deliberation

1 to engage in casual or rambling conversation the coffeehouse became the favored place to meet friends and chat for hours Synonyms babble, blab, cackle, chaffer [British], chatter, chin [slang], converse, gab, gabble, gas, jabber, jaw, kibitz (also kibbitz), natter, palaver, patter, prate, prattle, rap, rattle, run on, schmooze (or shmooze), talk, twitter, visit Related Words gossip, tattle; descant, discuss, expatiate; yak (also yack), yammer, yap Phrases blow smoke, chew the fat (also chew the rag), shoot the breeze, talk a blue streak

2 to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and usually unintelligibly lost in his own world, the toddler chatted happily for hours Synonyms bumble, babble, chatter, drivel, drool, gabble, gibber, jabber, prattle, sputterRelated Words blabber, blather, bleat, blither, gab, jangle, jaw, patter, prate, rattle, run on, smatter, tittle-tattle, troll, yak (also yack); chunter [British], maunder, mouth, mumble, murmur, mutter; stammer, stutter; screech, shout, shriekNear Antonyms articulate, enunciate, pronounce