tattletale

noun

ˈta-tᵊl-ˌtāl How to pronounce tattletale (audio)
Definition of tattletalenext
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tattletale
  1. informant
  2. informer
  3. canary
  4. rat
  5. tattler
  6. reporter
Noun
  • Owens is a former Republican candidate for state office who became an FBI informant in the HB 6 case.
    — Sara Herschander, Vox, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Sguros was listed as the informant on West’s death certificate, the affidavit said, and several months after the initial death investigation, Sguros was legally authorized to release West’s remains to a cremation service business.
    — Angie DiMichele, Sun Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of informant
Noun
  • One of State Security’s main goals, as well as a central source of its strength, is turning civilians into informers.
    — Abraham Jiménez Enoa, The Dial, 19 May 2026
  • And so every regime invests in having student informers.
    — Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2026
Definition of informer
Noun
  • The double lot includes flat yards, a patio, an infinity lap pool, and a one-bedroom guesthouse accessed by a canary-yellow spiral staircase.
    — The Week US, TheWeek, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Starkes, accused of leaving a canary in a birdcage outside in 50-degree weather and breaking a window at a nearby funeral home, is also charged with animal cruelty and criminally damaging property, police said.
    — Dennis Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of canary
Noun
  • Jason Ervin, warned that by putting the money toward a second extra pension payment this year, aldermen will force themselves to later make cuts to libraries, violence intervention, tree-trimming and rat abatement.
    — Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026
  • First, ensure trash bins are tightly sealed and stored a few feet away from your home, since open waste easily attracts mice or rats.
    — Emily Benda Gaylord, The Spruce, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of rat
Noun
  • Tattling to the Bachelor doesn’t always go well for the tattler.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner, hired him to replace a British editor who had turned it from a brash, tough-guy paper into a tattler of celebrity gossip and supermarket tabloid stunts.
    — Robert D. McFadden, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2020
Definition of tattler
Noun
  • The governor-elect, speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon inside the state Capitol, had just concluded a meeting with Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro-Tempore Monique Limón.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Former baseball All-Star Mark Teixeira won a congressional seat in Texas, former football coach Tommy Tuberville won the Alabama governor’s race, but former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya lost her Senate race in Minnesota.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of reporter

Browse Nearby Words

tattles
tattletale
tattletales
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Cite this Entry

“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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