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Showing results for palaver. Search instead for palauern.
Definitions
Trivia Time
In which popular book series did characters frequently "hold palaver," reviving the archaic word?

palaver

[puh-lav-er, -lah-ver] / pəˈlæv ər, -ˈlɑ vər /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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The subtext of much of the industry’s palaver about the need for new regulations is that AI is so new-fangled that the old rules don’t apply.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Drawing up what is known as a Written Ministerial Statement can often be a bit of a palaver, those who do it regularly admit.

From BBC ● May 3, 2023

Kéré’s strong affinity for his native land informs his practice — he references local symbols like the baobab or palaver tree; a traditional blue boubou garment he wore as a child.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2022

Daub brings the same sharp eye for sophistry to other forms of palaver that move capital in Silicon Valley.

From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2020

"And now our palaver is finished," I said.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

He did not just excavate the ethos of Africa from bygone times, he also reflected the present: bringing to life everyone from the politicians to the prostitutes, and prophesied the palavers that were to come.

From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2020

A girl palavers with a strange man with a tie on his head.

From Washington Post ● May 25, 2017

A minor palaver ensued, prolonged as much as possible by the sort of internet crusaders who devote their lives to prolonging minor palavers.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 10, 2012

Stan reads them all, palavers to the regulars like an old school chum, has time for about 100 recordings a program.

From Time Magazine Archive

Occasionally, even before the full development of language, excited palavers attended by some hundreds would take place, or opposing tribes would gather for a fight.

From Human Nature in Politics Third Edition by Graham Wallas

Eons ago, in the dark ages of video stores, adventurers navigated labyrinthine aisles and palavered with part-time archmaesters to find treasured artifacts of the fantasy film genre.

From The Verge ● Jun. 2, 2018

All week long, under giant camelthorn trees at Serowe, thatched-hut capital of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland in South Africa, the tar-black chieftains of the Bamangwato tribe pondered and palavered.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the back country, often carried in a hammock, the traditional mode of travel for Liberian VIPs, he palavered endlessly with jungle chiefs.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the road to Callender House, while Charlie and Victorine palavered together--"I cannot quite make out," minced the French-speaking grandmother to Flora, "the real reason why you are doing this."

From Kincaid's Battery by Alonzo Kimball

Lord Lorne and others, with, we presume, the Honourable Buffalo Bill Cody, palavered about an International Arbitration Court.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, Nov. 11, 1887 by Various

Such palavering is wasted time for a woman facing a literal deadline.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2023

Mr. Suh’s preoccupation is with the construction and collapse of identity, which we witness both in the Charlie Chan scenes and in those that feature Frank and his friends rehearsing and palavering.

From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2015

While palavering with Jack Paar before millions of viewers not long ago, Georgie went on and on about his watch, a Bulova.

From Time Magazine Archive

Fifteen months ago, the Central broke off merger talks with the Pennsylvania, the biggest U.S. railroad, after palavering for 14 months without agreement.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was great palavering about our journey into the interior.

From Southern Arabia by Theodore Bent


Vocabulary lists containing palaver

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