The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - palaver n.

1) nuisance, procedure, red tape, to-do, rigmarole or rigamarole, Colloq song and dance, bother, nonsense, business, carry-on, performance: He lost the certificates, so she now has to go through all the palaver of getting new ones. 2) chatter, babble, jabber, (empty or small) talk, blather or blether, gossip, prating, prattle, prattling, palavering, Brit natter, nattering, Scots clishmaclaver, Colloq jawing, hot air, Colloq Brit witter, wittering: There is so much palaver at the annual meeting that nothing important ever gets said. 3) parley, talk, conference, discussion, colloquy, conversation, confabulation, meeting, get-together, round table, powwow, Colloq confab, huddle, chin-wag: The annual palaver of the regional general managers is scheduled for next week. --v. 4) chatter, babble, jabber, blather or blether, gossip, prattle, prate, chit-chat, gabble, Brit natter, witter, Colloq jaw, chin-wag, US and Canadian shoot the breeze, Slang yack, yackety-yack: Peter and I were palavering outside the supermarket when Sophie came along. 5) confer, consult, discuss, parley, talk, converse, powwow, meet, get together, sit down (together) , confabulate, negotiate, Colloq confab, huddle, chew the fat or the rag: Management and union representatives will palaver tomorrow.