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Definition

Idle conversation, typically regarding innocuous or unimportant subjects, usually engaged in at social gatherings out of politeness.

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In Context

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

  • chit-chat
  • pleasantries
  • foretalk
  • chatter
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See Also

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