chat
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To send text or spoken messages with others instantly online
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chatIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃæt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To be engaged in informal conversation.
To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network such as a social media chat room or messaging application (as if having a face-to-face conversation instead of SMS or writing emails or letters).
To talk more than a few words.
transitive
To talk of; to discuss.
Talk socially without exchanging too much information
informalslangoften as chatting
To chat shit (to speak nonsense, to lie).
noun
countableuncountable
Informal conversation.
countableuncountable
An exchange of text or voice messages in real time through a computer network, resembling a face-to-face conversation.
countable
Any of various small Old World passerine birds in the muscicapid tribe Saxicolini or subfamily Saxicolinae that feed on insects.
A small potato, such as is given to swine.
BritishAustraliaNew ZealandWorld War I military slang
A louse (small, parasitic insect).
Any savory snack, sold from a roadside stall in India or other South Asian countries, or served as a starter in an Indian restaurant.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To exchange text or voice messages in real time through a computer network such as a social media chat room or messaging application (as if having a face-to-face conversation instead of SMS or writing emails or letters).
Used this way, chat is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a computing use: it carries a fixed technical meaning inside software and systems work.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technology
- Technical/specialist writing
- Business/professional
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- confab , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
- claver , rarer, so it draws attention
- jaw , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Click repeatedly or uncontrollably.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions.
A program during which well-known people discuss a topic or answer questions telephoned in by the audience.
Marks on a glaciated rock caused by the movement of a glacier.
A site on the internet where a number of users can communicate in real time (typically one dedicated to a particular topic).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: informal conversation
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.