con·fab·u·late

(kən-făb′yə-lāt′)

intr.v. con·fab·u·lat·ed, con·fab·u·lat·ing, con·fab·u·lates

1. To talk casually; chat.

2. Psychology To fill in gaps in one's memory with fabrications that one believes to be facts.

[Latin cōnfābulārī, cōnfābulāt- : com-, com- + fābulārī, to talk (from fābula, conversation; see fable).]

con·fab′u·la′tion n.

con·fab′u·la′tor n.

con·fab′u·la·to′ry (-lə-tôr′ē) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

confabulator

noun

One given to conversation:

conversationalist, conversationist, discourser, talker.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Like many of Finlay's contemporary and future critics, both Santos Fernandez and Tamayo saw him at this time as more of an artisan and confabulator than a scientific researcher or visionary.

A Cuban scientist between empires: peripheral vision on race and tropical medicine

Jekyll Formaldehyde when he accidentally dropped part of his lunch into a particle confabulator. Cryogenically frozen (in a pickle jar, of course) for the last 50 years, Weapon Kosher awakens, crashing through Jo Jo's floor ready to avenge evil.

Morse, Scott. Magic Pickle

After all, no right-minded person wants to give money to serial confabulator Stephen Glass, formerly employed by The New Republic.

The liar

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