noun
tattletale
TA-tuhl-tayl
noun
1
(informal, chiefly North American) Someone, especially a child, who reports on other people's misbehaviour, often just to get them in trouble.
"Nobody wanted to play with the class tattletale."
"Don't be such a tattletale — it was an accident."
verb
1
To tell on someone; to reveal wrongdoing to an authority figure.
"She threatened to tattletale to the teacher."
How to Use Tattletale
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA person (often a kid) who snitches on others, or the act of snitching itself.
When to use it
Informal, and mostly used in North American English; British English tends to say "telltale" or "snitch."
Easily confused with
Word Forms
tattletaled past tense, tattletales plural, tattletales singular
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Nobody wanted to play with the class _____.
Etymology
A compound of tattle and tale.