palaver
3 synonyms for palaver, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A meeting of a village council.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
cajolery
blandishment
Etymology
Originally nautical slang, coming from Portuguese palavra (“word”), from Late Latin parabola (“parable, speech”). Its use (especially in Africa) mirrors the way the word moot developed, so see moot for how the sense evolved. It is a doublet of parable, parole and parabola.
Full origin of palaver →