palaver

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

Perhaps one upside of the palaver is that Radnor residents have become more politically engaged.

From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2021

The subject of minimalism is rife with mental thickets like this, even without art-world palaver to muddy the waters.

From Slate ● Jan. 20, 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

After months of surrealist palavers, the princes finally met last week in the capital city of Vientiane.

From Time Magazine Archive

This produced profound deliberation and lengthened palavers, and at length the chief told me that he feared learning to read would change his heart and make him content with one wife like Sechéle.

From The Personal Life of David Livingstone by William Garden Blaikie

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

Den Brer Fox en Brer Wolf dey sorter palavered on, dey did, twel bimeby Brer Wolf he up'n say dat he done got plan fix fer ter trap Brer Rabbit.

From Uncle Remus, his songs and his sayings by Joel Chandler Harris

I could have palavered a long time before coming to business in this way, but I see you're a bright young fellow and don't need a lot of hair-oil talk.

From Blow The Man Down A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 by Holman Day

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

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

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

Don't stand there palavering all day, but out with you and see if there's a fish on the lines for breakfast.

From The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer's Comrade by Mark Twain