Meanings
alternative chatteratis
- pluralplural onlyPeople who chat, argue and debate.
Perhaps some Anatolian Leigh Fermor had a bestseller among the chatterati of Topkapi with his Travels in the Egripos.
2004, John Mole, It's All Greek to Me3 more examples
2002, Annabelle Sreberny, “Trauma talk,” in Journalism After September 11, Barbara Zelizer and Stuart Allan edd. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0415287995&id=zHs5FsL2pAIC&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&sig=xCPKCNE7rqbp3yj9eDEhIlq_94o The newspaper the Guardian, together with its Sunday sister the Observer, are the liberal papers of choice among the middle-class chatterati.
At last, after many years, the doctrine of multi-culturalism is being questioned. The chatterati have long held onto this as a core belief, a multi-cultural society where hundreds of different cultures exist side by side, and anyone criticising it has been labeled as a racist.
2004 January 20, Peter Simmons, “political incorrectness and the chatterati”, in One World Net, archived from the original on 28 Jul 20232005 Christina Odone, in the Manchester Guardian, quoted in Credo by Ray Pritchard http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1581347197&id=uR7gKh4CWUIC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&sig=58JatuzqcghLCAd6Tazni_ntH2U From when to die to when to give birth, from whom to have sex with, to how to spend their money, the chatteratis believe they should enjoy unlimited freedom.
Synonyms: chattering classes
Synonyms & antonyms
nounPeople who chat, argue and debate.
Origin
Blend of chatter + literati, attested since 1990.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chatterati. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chatterati
“chatterati.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chatterati. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chatterati,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chatterati.
Source: chatterati on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.