rumor mill

English

Alternative forms

• rumour mill

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

rumor mill (plural rumor mills)

1. (American spelling, idiomatic) A process in which a group or network of persons originate or promulgate gossip and other unsubstantiated claims.
   • 1963 July 5, “A Kennedy Speaks to a Lodge”, in Time:

     For months the Washington rumor mill has ground out gossip about who might replace U.S. Ambassador Frederick E. Nolting Jr.

   • 2008 March 30, “Zimbabwe Opposition Claims Victory”, in New York Times, retrieved 19 September 2008:

     Unofficial results instead traveled through the rumor mill, passed along on mobile phones from one part of the country to another.

   • 2023 September 26, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Dior opens Paris fashion week with feminist sloganeering on the catwalk”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The rumour mill is also abuzz with chat that Alessandro Michele, who parted with Gucci last year, is to make a return to the fashion frontline.

Synonyms

• gossip mill

Translations

originator or promulgator of gossip

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 謠言傳播／谣言传播 (yáoyán chuánbō)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: huhumylly
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Gerüchteküche (de) f
• Portuguese: fofoqueiro (pt) m, fofoqueiros (pt) m pl, fofoqueira (pt) f, fofoqueiras (pt) f pl
• Russian: сарафа́нное ра́дио (ru) n (sarafánnoje rádio)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can