English

Alternative forms

• small-talk

Noun

small talk ‎(uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Idle conversation, typically on innocuous or unimportant subjects, usually engaged in at social gatherings out of politeness.
   • 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, ch. 7:

     [T]o the credit of the lady it may be added that . . . without any of the arts of flattery or the gaieties of small talk, he began to be agreeable to her.

   • 1910, P. G. Wodehouse, "Misunderstood":

     If he had a fault as a conversationalist, it was a certain tendency to monotony, a certain lack of sparkle and variety in his small-talk.

   • 2009, John Cloud, "Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009," Time, 26 June:

     Yet for so public a figure, Jackson was socially awkward, inept at small talk and terrified when the distant audience became an adoring mob.

Synonyms

• (idle conversation): pleasantries, foretalk
• See also Wikisaurus:chatter

Descendants

• German: Smalltalk

Translations

See also

• big talk
• happy talk