What does driveler mean?
A driveler is a person who talks nonsense — someone whose speech or writing is silly, trivial, or incoherent. The word is formed by adding the agentive suffix "-er" to the verb "drivel," which means to utter foolish or meaningless talk (and, in an older or literal sense, to let saliva run from the mouth). Calling someone a driveler is dismissive and mildly insulting: it implies not merely occasional error but a habitual emptiness of thought. The term appears most often in literary or slightly old-fashioned contexts — a reviewer might condemn a novel's author as a sentimental driveler, or one character might wave off another as a driveling old fool. Though less common in everyday modern speech than blunt synonyms like "fool" or "idiot," it remains useful precisely because it targets the quality of what someone says rather than their general intelligence, making it a precise and pointed word for verbal nonsense.
nounA person who talks or writes foolish, senseless, or incoherent nonsense; a silly or feeble-minded talker.
- A person who speaks or writes foolish, trivial, or nonsensical talk.
"The committee dismissed his rambling proposal as the work of a driveler."
"Ignore that old driveler; he has never said anything worth repeating."
"The critic dismissed the novelist as a sentimental driveler."
Regular plural; standard in both British and US spelling conventions (the base verb may be spelled "driveller" in British usage).
"The salon was full of drivelers who mistook chatter for conversation."
"Driveler" turns the verb "to drivel" into a label for the offender himself — the dictionary's polite way of calling someone a talking fool.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of driveler
"Driveler" is formed with the English agentive suffix "-er" from the verb "drivel," which dates back to Old English "dreflian." The root is Germanic in origin and is related to "dribble"; both verbs originally carried the sense of letting liquid flow or drool before developing the figurative meaning of speaking senseless twaddle. As an agent noun, "driveler" simply names the person who does the drivelling.
How driveler is actually used
The word is somewhat dated and literary in flavor today; it carries strong contempt and is mildly insulting, so it suits informal criticism or colorful prose rather than neutral description.
Easily confused with driveler
"Drivel" refers to the nonsense talk itself (or saliva), while "driveler" is the person who produces such nonsense.