Drivelers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who speaks nonsensically or excessively about trivial matters
2. Someone who engages in foolish or aimless talk, often lacking substance or importance
3. An individual prone to expressing rambling thoughts that are often dismissed as silly or meaningless

Etymology: "Drivelers" is the plural of "driveler," a simple formation: the noun "drivel" with the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who does the thing named. "Drivel" is the older root and carries the core idea. In the English of the earlier Middle Ages it was already tied to dribbling saliva, so the word describes someone whose speech runs on without control, like a mouth that cannot keep its contents in. The suffix has a long pedigree. The "-er" ending descends from a Latin suffix "-arius," which passed into Old French as "-ier" and into Middle English as "-er," and it was attached to native English stems like "drivel" as readily as to borrowed ones. The plural simply adds "-s" to make the group of such talkers.

Synonyms: babblers, talkers, gossips

Antonyms: listeners, quiet ones