talebearing means the spreading of gossip or rumor. It carries an Arena rating of 1463, earned across 18 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, talebearing ranks #3,192 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #4,053 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #4,162 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #4,534 of 17,163 for Funniest Words.
Why “talebearing” is a great word
The act of spreading gossip or rumors, especially of a malicious or tattling nature. Its etymology is plain and workmanlike: from the English words 'tale' (meaning a story or report, often false) and 'bearing' (meaning the manner of carrying or conducting oneself), a construction first attested in 1571. Unlike 'slander,' which denotes a specific, legally actionable falsehood, or 'newsbreaking,' which implies a public service of factual reporting, talebearing is the petty, often secretive trafficking in trifles and secrets, true or false. It is the hissed confidence in a quiet corner, the gleam in a neighbor's eye as she leans over the fence, the whispered sentence that travels farther than any truth—the small, corrosive currency of idle societies, trading in intimacy for a fleeting sense of power.
Etymology
From tale + bearing.
noun
- The spreading of gossip or rumor.e.g.“waiting to be in her presence to burst into the tears with which he delivered endless, and sometimes even untrue, talebearings” — 1973, Taya Zinkin, Weeds grow fast, page 30:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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