Verbigerates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To repeat words or phrases mechanically and incessantly without awareness or comprehension ; to utter verbal repetitions in a compulsive, automatic manner ; to vocalize the same sounds or expressions persistently as a symptom of mental disturbance
2. To produce continuous, meaningless repetitions of language without mindful understanding ; to chant or recite verbal content again and again in a habitual or uncontrolled way ; to echo words compulsively in a repetitive fashion often associated with psychological conditions
3. To engage in automatic and incessant repetition of speech lacking conscious intent ; to mumble or articulate fixed phrases repeatedly without considering their meaning ; to express a series of words or sounds compulsively and redundantly, typically as a neurological or psychiatric symptom

Etymology: "Verbigerates" is the third-person singular form of "verbigerate," a term from late nineteenth-century psychiatric writing for the compulsive repetition of words or phrases. It is a Latinate coinage built from "verbum," meaning "word," and "gerare," meaning "to carry on" or "to conduct." The verb's Latin source, "verbigerare," meant something close to "to chatter" or "to keep talking words," which is a fairly literal description of the pattern clinicians wanted to name. Its meaning has since narrowed considerably: rather than ordinary talkativeness, it refers to speech that continues mechanically, without the speaker seeming to grasp what is being said, and that is often read as a sign of mental disturbance.

Synonyms: repeats, utters, babble, ramble

Antonyms: silences, halts, stops