- report
- report n 1 Report, rumor, gossip, hearsay are comparable when they mean common talk or an instance of it that spreads rapidly.Report is the most general and least explicit of these terms; it need not imply an authentic basis for the common talk, but it often suggests some ground for the belief unless specifically qualified (as by false, untrue, or wild){
my brother Jaques he keeps at school and report speaks goldenly of his profit— Shak.
}{denies the common report that he ghosted the whole document— Bliven b. 1889
}{spread a false report
}Rumor applies to a report that flies about, often gains in detail as it spreads, but lacks both an evident source and clear-cut evidence of its truth{almost every newspaper issue brought rumors of reduction in their salaries— Heiser
}{we make our blunders ... as rumor has it that you make your own— Cardozo
}Gossip applies to idle talk, chiefly about personal affairs and behavior, that is the source of or means of propagating rumors or reports, and is sometimes used in the sense of a rumor or report{neighborhood gossip
}{my presence killed the gossip on her tongue— Barrie
}{gossip about the party leader and his beautiful blond niece was inevitable— Shirer
}{this girl's ... intimate gossip about well-known people— Wouk
}Hearsay carries a strong implication of the means by which a report or rumor comes to one, that is, by hearing rather than by seeing or knowing directly{the qualifications and doubts that distinguish critical science from hearsay knowledge— Cohen
}It is sometimes extended to a report or rumor based upon such hearsay{the hearsays bandied about by the medievalists— Behrman
}Analogous words: talking or talk, conversing or conversation, speaking or speech (see corresponding verbs at SPEAK): chatting, chattering or chatter, prating (see CHAT): *news, tidings, intelligence, advice2 *account, story, chronicle, version3 dispatch, message, note, *letter, epistle, missive, memorandumreport vb *relate, narrate, describe, state, recite, recount, rehearseAnalogous words: *communicate, impart: *reveal, disclose, discover, tell, divulge
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.