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
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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
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
Noun
-
The only reason anybody learned about it was the informant’s guilty plea.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
-
Lea Garofalo Lea Garofalo was an Italian civilian informant whose break with the ’Ndrangheta ended in her murder.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
13 May 2026
Noun
-
And so every regime invests in having student informers.—
Anne Applebaum,
The Atlantic,
23 Jan. 2026
-
The whole family is deeply involved in the revolutionary movement: the oldest son disappears into Siberia, never to be seen or heard of again, while the youngest, eighteen, is jailed together with his father, and executed after his cell is exposed by an informer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
That is the canary in the 2 percent statistic.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
-
After Spirit Airlines ceased operations, in the middle of the night on May 2nd, a series of canary-yellow airplanes sat on the tarmac at Newark Airport, arranged neatly like children’s toys at day’s end.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
9 May 2026
Noun
-
The colilargo itself has no presence across the Strait of Magellan in Tierra del Fuego, which is believed to be too cold and isolated for the rat.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 May 2026
-
The first two fatalities, a Dutch couple, were probably infected through exposure to rat droppings while bird-watching in Argentina.—
The Week US,
TheWeek,
18 May 2026
Noun
-
Wandering tattlers, the ruddy turnstone and a variety of other summer migrants will be found on our local beaches.—
Ernie Cowan,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 June 2025
-
Tattling to the Bachelor doesn’t always go well for the tattler.—
Kristen Baldwin,
EW.com,
25 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Tim Stelloh Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.—
Tim Stelloh,
NBC news,
21 May 2026
-
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold case investigations and breaking news for USA TODAY.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA Today,
21 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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