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
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
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
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
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
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
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
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Police learned in September that Garnett was selling meth and made several purchases of meth from Garnett using confidential informants, according to a probable cause affidavit.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
6 Oct. 2025
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Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the company’s cameras and accompanying Neighbors app have heightened the risk of racial profiling and turned residents into informants, with few guardrails around how law enforcement can use the material.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Frizer and Skeres were fraudsters, and the sinister Poley was an informer, crucial to the exposure of the Babington Plot.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
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Option 2: If one prisoner informs while the other stays silent, the informer will go free while the silent one receives the harshest sentence.—
Michael Ashley,
Forbes.com,
29 July 2025
Noun
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The outdoor areas are open from March through October, but available year-round is its Bolz Conservatory, a glass pyramid housing huge tropical plants, chirping canaries and darting quail.—
Peter Cameron,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
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These early jolts serve as canaries in the coal mine.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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While searching for her first dog, Joelle Andres saw a photo of a scrappy-looking rat terrier on a pet adoption site and was immediately drawn to his face.—
Kelli Bender,
PEOPLE,
8 Oct. 2025
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Cats are common sightings around feed stores and garden centers, which contain large amounts of grain and seed that can be attractive to mice and rats.—
John Raby,
Fortune,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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Tattling to the Bachelor doesn’t always go well for the tattler.—
Kristen Baldwin,
EW.com,
25 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Sydney Sasser is a business reporter with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.—
Sydney Sasser,
Arkansas Online,
11 Oct. 2025
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As an editor at The Star, Cummings has worked with reporters in breaking news, local government accountability, politics, investigations and service journalism, among others.—
The Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.
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