small talk en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
-
(idiomatic, uncountable) Idle conversation, typically regarding innocuous or unimportant subjects, usually engaged in at social gatherings out of politeness.
Yet for so public a figure, Jackson was socially awkward, inept at small talk and terrified when the distant audience became an adoring mob.
2009 June 10, John Cloud, “Michael Jackson 1958–2009”, in Time, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2010:[T]o the credit of the lady it may be added, that […] without any of the arts of flattery or the gaieties of small talk, he began to be agreeable to her.
1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 134:If he had a fault as a conversationalist, it was a certain tendency to monotony, a certain lack of sparkle and variety in his small-talk.
1910, P. G. Wodehouse, Misunderstood:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| small-talk | alternative | lexicographic | |
| smalltalk | alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
small-talky · small-talker · Smalltalk
Descendants
Smalltalk · smalltalk · small talk
Relateds
Synonyms
foretalk · pleasantries · chit-chat (idle conversation)
Translations (54)
cs tlachání (idle conversation) · la sermunculus (idle conversation) · gl leria (idle conversation) · ko 한담 (idle conversation) · es cháchara (idle conversation) · ko 잡담 (idle conversation) · es palique (idle conversation) · ca garleries (idle conversation) · cmn 聊天 (idle conversation) · cy mân siarad (idle conversation) · es charloteo (idle conversation) · fr papotage (idle conversation) · ar كَلَام خَفِيف (idle conversation) · ar مُحَادَثَة خَفِيفَة (idle conversation) · nl lichte conversatie (idle conversation) · cs nezávazná konverzace (idle conversation) · cmn 寒暄 (idle conversation) · it chiacchiera (idle conversation) · pl small talk (idle conversation) · es teque (idle conversation) · nn småprat (idle conversation) · ga mionchomhrá (idle conversation) · ru лёгкая бесе́да (idle conversation) · hu terefere (idle conversation) · sv kallprat (idle conversation) · ru све́тский разгово́р (idle conversation) · de Smalltalk (idle conversation) · fi jutustelu (idle conversation) · mi tūtara (idle conversation) · cmn 閑談 /闲谈 (idle conversation) · ga cabaireacht (idle conversation) · fi rupattelu (idle conversation) · pt conversa fiada (idle conversation) · ja 雑談 (idle conversation) · bg све́тски ра́зговор (idle conversation) · de belangloses Gespräch (idle conversation) · ja 世間話 (idle conversation) · de Plauderei (idle conversation) · is rabb (idle conversation) · gl parola (idle conversation) · nl koetjes en kalfjes (idle conversation) · fi small talk (idle conversation) · de Alltagsgespräch (idle conversation) · is mas (idle conversation) · he סמול טוק (idle conversation) · sv småprat (idle conversation) · nb småprat (idle conversation) · de belanglose Unterhaltung (idle conversation) · ca xerrameca (idle conversation) · fr bavardage (idle conversation) · hu társalgás (idle conversation) · de Plaudern (idle conversation) · nl praatje (idle conversation) · es charla (idle conversation)