Prone to or characterized by constant, meaningless chatter; talkative in a trivial or excessive way without communicating anything important.
From 'babble' (from Middle Dutch 'babbelen,' imitative of babies' speech) plus the suffix -ative, meaning 'tending to' or 'characterized by.' The imitative origin reflects the ancient association of babbling with childish or senseless talk.
The linguistic history of 'babble' is almost onomatopoetic—it imitates actual babbling sounds across multiple European languages, which is why the word has felt intuitively 'right' for describing meaningless speech for centuries.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.