"confabulate" meaning in English

See confabulate in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /kənˈfæbjʊleɪt/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav Forms: confabulates [present, singular, third-person], confabulating [participle, present], confabulated [participle, past], confabulated [past]
Etymology: First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus, perfect active participle of cōnfābulor, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*bʰeh₂-|id=speak}}, {{etydate|1623}} First attested in 1623, {{bor+|en|la|cōnfābulātus|nocap=1}} borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus, {{glossary|perfect}} perfect, {{glossary|active}} active, {{glossary|participle}} participle, {{af|en|-ate|id1=verb|pos1=verb-forming suffix}} -ate (verb-forming suffix) Head templates: {{en-verb}} confabulate (third-person singular simple present confabulates, present participle confabulating, simple past and past participle confabulated)
  1. (intransitive) To speak casually with; to chat. Tags: intransitive Synonyms: confab
    Sense id: en-confabulate-en-verb-Ibmr2bOV Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Terms with German translations, Terms with Norwegian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 59 11 29 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Norwegian translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 48 13 39
  2. (intransitive) To confer. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-confabulate-en-verb-4MGE03dI Categories (other): Terms with German translations, Terms with Norwegian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Norwegian translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 48 13 39
  3. (ambitransitive, psychology) To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory. Tags: ambitransitive Translations (to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory): confabuler (French), konfabulieren (German), konfabulere (Norwegian), confabular (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-confabulate-en-verb-VdsWBhw- Categories (other): Psychology, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -ate (verb), Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Norwegian translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 6 52 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ate (verb): 37 13 50 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 38 15 47 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Norwegian translations: 41 11 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 48 13 39 Topics: human-sciences, psychology, sciences Disambiguation of "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory": 1 0 98
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: confab [verb] Related terms: confable [obsolete, rare], confabular, confabulation, confabulative, confabulator, confabulatory

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "confab"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*bʰeh₂-",
        "id": "speak"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1623"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1623",
      "name": "etydate"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "cōnfābulātus",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "perfect"
      },
      "expansion": "perfect",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "active"
      },
      "expansion": "active",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "-ate",
        "id1": "verb",
        "pos1": "verb-forming suffix"
      },
      "expansion": "-ate (verb-forming suffix)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus, perfect active participle of cōnfābulor, see -ate (verb-forming suffix).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "confabulates",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulated",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "confabulate (third-person singular simple present confabulates, present participle confabulating, simple past and past participle confabulated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "con",
        "fab",
        "ul",
        "ate"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "rare"
      ],
      "word": "confable"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "confabular"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "confabulation"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "confabulative"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "confabulator"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "confabulatory"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 11 29",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 13 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To speak casually with; to chat."
      ],
      "id": "en-confabulate-en-verb-Ibmr2bOV",
      "links": [
        [
          "speak",
          "speak"
        ],
        [
          "casual",
          "casual"
        ],
        [
          "chat",
          "chat"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To speak casually with; to chat."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "confab"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 13 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To confer."
      ],
      "id": "en-confabulate-en-verb-4MGE03dI",
      "links": [
        [
          "confer",
          "confer"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To confer."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Psychology",
          "orig": "en:Psychology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "42 6 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 13 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ate (verb)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 15 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 11 48",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 13 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              93
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991, George P. Prigatano Chairman, Daniel L. Schacter, Awareness of Deficit after Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues ...:",
          "text": "\"It has been well established that the speech areas in the absence of input often confabulate a response.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory."
      ],
      "id": "en-confabulate-en-verb-VdsWBhw-",
      "links": [
        [
          "psychology",
          "psychology"
        ],
        [
          "fabricate",
          "fabricate"
        ],
        [
          "memory",
          "memory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive, psychology) To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "psychology",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 0 98",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
          "word": "confabuler"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 0 98",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
          "word": "konfabulieren"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 0 98",
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "lang_code": "no",
          "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
          "word": "konfabulere"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 0 98",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
          "word": "confabular"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kənˈfæbjʊleɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "confabulate"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms borrowed from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰeh₂- (speak)",
    "English terms suffixed with -ate (verb)",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 4 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Norwegian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "confab"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*bʰeh₂-",
        "id": "speak"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1623"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1623",
      "name": "etydate"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "cōnfābulātus",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "perfect"
      },
      "expansion": "perfect",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "active"
      },
      "expansion": "active",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "-ate",
        "id1": "verb",
        "pos1": "verb-forming suffix"
      },
      "expansion": "-ate (verb-forming suffix)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin cōnfābulātus, perfect active participle of cōnfābulor, see -ate (verb-forming suffix).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "confabulates",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulated",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "confabulated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "confabulate (third-person singular simple present confabulates, present participle confabulating, simple past and past participle confabulated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "con",
        "fab",
        "ul",
        "ate"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete",
        "rare"
      ],
      "word": "confable"
    },
    {
      "word": "confabular"
    },
    {
      "word": "confabulation"
    },
    {
      "word": "confabulative"
    },
    {
      "word": "confabulator"
    },
    {
      "word": "confabulatory"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To speak casually with; to chat."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "speak",
          "speak"
        ],
        [
          "casual",
          "casual"
        ],
        [
          "chat",
          "chat"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To speak casually with; to chat."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "confab"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To confer."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "confer",
          "confer"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To confer."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "en:Psychology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              93
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991, George P. Prigatano Chairman, Daniel L. Schacter, Awareness of Deficit after Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues ...:",
          "text": "\"It has been well established that the speech areas in the absence of input often confabulate a response.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "psychology",
          "psychology"
        ],
        [
          "fabricate",
          "fabricate"
        ],
        [
          "memory",
          "memory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive, psychology) To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "psychology",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kənˈfæbjʊleɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b9/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Qwertygiy-confabulate.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
      "word": "confabuler"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
      "word": "konfabulieren"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "lang_code": "no",
      "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
      "word": "konfabulere"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory",
      "word": "confabular"
    }
  ],
  "word": "confabulate"
}

Download raw JSONL data for confabulate meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-09-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-23 using wiktextract (20da82b and a97feda). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.