tattler

as in informant
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing as the office's resident tattler, she can be counted on to report any unauthorized use of the photocopiers

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tattler Mortimer Zuckerman, the owner, hired him to replace a British editor who had turned it from a brash, tough-guy paper into a tattler of celebrity gossip and supermarket tabloid stunts. Robert D. McFadden, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Aug. 2020 Being a tattler or someone who is too focused on the drama rarely works out, largely because those dudes are more focused on screen time than the lead. Martha Sorren, refinery29.com, 20 June 2019 There are social repercussions for kids who develop a reputation as tattlers: they get left out. K. Lori Hanson Ph.d., miamiherald, 8 Mar. 2018 Dwight and Eugene remain at an ideological impasse, but Eugene is too busy waffling between his morality and his desire to stay alive to actually pick a side—and for reasons unknown, Dwight hasn’t found a way to simply ax the potential tattler. Laura Bradley, HWD, 3 Dec. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tattler
Noun
  • Over six months, the office turned into a hub for nearly 20 hardcore criminals, bikers and gang members, as well as high-flying lawyers, businessmen and major contractors, all involved in tax fraud, disposal of contaminated soil, money laundering and sometimes even torture of informants.
    Annika Pham, Variety, 14 Feb. 2025
  • The investigation started with a tip from a confidential informant, police said.
    Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The Ukrainian soldiers began to see Russian civilians as a hindrance — or worse, as potential informers who could give away their positions.
    Ekaterina Bodyagina Nanna Heitmann, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
  • The arrests were part of wide-ranging Establishment attacks on the new generation of pop stars in Britain at the time, done through connivance with informers and a hostile conservative media.
    Bill Wyman, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • This situation makes the NIH a golden goose for universities, and also a canary in a coal mine.
    Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 24 Jan. 2025
  • In short, the Amazon is the planet’s canary in the coal mine—its health is directly tied to its survival.
    Michael Sheldrick, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The two of them, as though after a party, would have stood at the sink cleaning dishes and wondering which among the attendees was the traitor, the tattletale.
    Hazlitt, Hazlitt, 26 July 2023
  • We’re basically guaranteed to see that thing where one person tells Zach that another person is there for the wrong reasons, but then the tattletale winds up consumed by their own vendetta and self-sabotages.
    Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 23 Jan. 2023
Noun
  • Infected rats likely brought the disease from steamships to the shore.
    Sarah Holzmann, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2025
  • Rather than removing the rodents that are already in cities, the strongest rat management strategies tend to make city survival more challenging, removing the trash and the clutter on which rats rely.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 6 Feb. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near tattler

Cite this Entry

“Tattler.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattler. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.

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