small talk

noun

Incessant and usually inconsequential talk: babble, blab, blabber, chat, chatter, chitchat, jabber, palaver, prate, prattle. Slang gab, gas, yak. See words.

Casual or trivial conversation, chitchat, as in We stood around making small talk until the guest of honor arrived. The small in this expression alludes to unimportant subjects of conversation, as opposed to serious or weighty ones. [Mid-1700s]

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: light informal conversation for social occasions
  Synonyms: chitchat, gab, gabfest, gossip, tittle-tattle, chin-wag, chin-wagging, causerie

Look up small talk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Small talk (phatic communication) is conversation for its own sake.

Small talk, Small Talk or Smalltalk may also mean:

• Smalltalk, a dynamically typed object-oriented programming language
• Small Talk (film), the first sound film in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short subjects series, released in May 1929
• Small Talk (album), a 1974 album by Sly & the Family Stone, the final LP to feature the original Family Stone
• "Small Talk", a song by Roxette from their 1991 album Joyride
• Small Talk, a US game show aired on The Family Channel
• Small Talk (UK), a UK game show aired on BBC1
• "Small Talk," a song from the 1957 musical play, The Pajama Game
• "Small Talk" a song by Saving Aimee

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)