as in informer
a person who provides information about another's wrongdoing
don't be such a tattletale and tell me about every little thing your sister does
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Recent Examples of tattletale
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, 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
One errant tweet, one mistimed joke, one honest opinion overheard by an oversensitive busybody with the shrunken soul of a schoolyard tattletale, and a person’s job can be lost and his reputation destroyed.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
Deciding to become a whistleblower requires some hefty thinking, trying to balance a personal sense of ethical codes versus the potential for being known as an informer or tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 June 2021
The odds are that once self-driving cars become prevalent, the general public will wise up that self-driving cars have this intrinsic capability of being a tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 June 2021
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
Kaila White, 29, also of Phoenix, was a good student and a tattletale while growing up.
—Michelle Rogers, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2020
Was this really all in my head? *** Some families might demonize liars, or tattletales, or people who fall down on some other moral imperative.
—Alyson Pomerantz, Longreads, 3 Sep. 2019
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
One errant tweet, one mistimed joke, one honest opinion overheard by an oversensitive busybody with the shrunken soul of a schoolyard tattletale, and a person’s job can be lost and his reputation destroyed.
—James E. Person Jr., National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
Deciding to become a whistleblower requires some hefty thinking, trying to balance a personal sense of ethical codes versus the potential for being known as an informer or tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 June 2021
The odds are that once self-driving cars become prevalent, the general public will wise up that self-driving cars have this intrinsic capability of being a tattletale.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 12 June 2021
The boy was branded as a tattletale for reporting what had happened to him and became the target of fierce bullying at school.
—Emma Brown, Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2021
Kaila White, 29, also of Phoenix, was a good student and a tattletale while growing up.
—Michelle Rogers, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2020
Was this really all in my head? *** Some families might demonize liars, or tattletales, or people who fall down on some other moral imperative.
—Alyson Pomerantz, Longreads, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tattletale
Noun
-
Given the increasingly absurd pretexts the state is using for criminal prosecution and the resounding success of informers of all stripes, the judicial crackdown will continue to worsen.—
Andrei Kolesnikov,
Foreign Affairs,
17 May 2024
-
Standing in his way are British spies, French informers and jealous colleagues.—
Liza Foreman,
The Hollywood Reporter,
10 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Revelations that Tarrio had acted as an informant for law enforcement in 2012 and 2014 caused further divides in the group.—
Kristen Waggoner,
Newsweek,
21 Jan. 2025
-
The investigation never uncovered evidence of a key claim — that both father and son accepted a bribe — and the former FBI informant who made the claim pleaded guilty last year to fabricating the claim.—
Rebecca Beitsch,
The Hill,
20 Jan. 2025
Noun
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After the woman delivered a healthy baby boy, her symptoms led to a cancer diagnosis, and doctors theorized that the NIPT had been the canary in the coal mine: Her tumors were shedding abnormal DNA into the bloodstream, which skewed the prenatal test results.—
ByJennifer Couzin-Frankel,
science.org,
4 Dec. 2024
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Cats, however, may turn out to be the canaries in the coalmines — pardon the mixed metaphor.—
Jan Ellen Spiegel,
Hartford Courant,
24 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Shanks brilliantly paces the story out with several pieces of foreshadowing, including a rat king as symbolism for toxic codependency, mirroring a gruesome story Tim tells Millie about his father’s death and his mother’s mental health.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
27 Jan. 2025
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Research has shown that Red No. 3 can cause cancer in laboratory rats when exposed to high levels.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
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
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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
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Cite this Entry
“Tattletale.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tattletale. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
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