MEANING
To speak rapidly or make vocal sounds that are confused or unintelligible.
Use it for
A voice losing recognizable language; unnatural vocal imitation; speech overwhelmed by disturbanceLet intelligibility fail without equating mental illness with monstrosity.
Words that belong together
- gibber incoherently
- gibber a broken phrase
- gibbering voice
On the page
The recording ended with a voice gibbering into static.
He gibbered fragments of the code, unable to assemble the sentence.
The thing in the vent gibbered with several borrowed voices.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- gibber / gibbers
- Past tense
- gibbered
- Past participle
- gibbered
- Present participle
- gibbering
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- gibber / gibbers
- Present continuous
- am/is/are gibbering
- Present perfect
- have/has gibbered
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been gibbering
- Past
- gibbered
- Past continuous
- was/were gibbering
- Past perfect
- had gibbered
- Past perfect continuous
- had been gibbering
- Future
- will gibber / gibbers
- Future continuous
- will be gibbering
- Future perfect
- will have gibbered
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been gibbering
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Describes lack of intelligibility, not a diagnosis or proof of low intelligence. It can be dehumanizing if casually attached to a distressed person. Verb [base, third-person present, past, past participle, -ing]: gibber, gibbers, gibbered, gibbered, gibbering. Derived/related family (not inflections): gibberish (noun).
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