confabulate

See also: confabúlate

English

Etymology

From Latin cōnfābulātus, past participle of cōnfābulor.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈfæbjʊleɪt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧fab‧ul‧ate

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.

   Synonym: confab

2. (intransitive) To confer.
3. (transitive, intransitive, psychology) To fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory.
   • 1991, George P. Prigatano Chairman, Daniel L. Schacter, Awareness of Deficit after Brain Injury: Clinical and Theoretical Issues ...‎^[1]:

     "It has been well established that the speech areas in the absence of input often confabulate a response."

Derived terms

• confab (verb)

Related terms

• confable (obsolete, rare)
• confabular
• confabulation
• confabulative
• confabulator
• confabulatory

 

Translations

to fabricate memories in order to fill gaps in one's memory

• French: confabuler (fr)
• German: konfabulieren (de)
• Norwegian: konfabulere
• Spanish: confabular (es)

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

confabulate

1. inflection of confabulare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

confabulate f pl

1. feminine plural of confabulato

Latin

Participle

cōnfābulāte

1. vocative masculine singular of cōnfābulātus

Spanish

Verb

confabulate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of confabularse