Meaning of palaver in English

palaver
noun [ S or U ]
  informal
uk
/pəˈlɑː.vər/ us
/pəˈlæv.ɚ/ us
/pəˈlɑː.vɚ/
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unnecessary work and trouble:
Organizing the annual office lunch was such a palaver, I swore I'd never do it again.
talking or discussion that goes on for too long and is not important:
That's enough palaver for now.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Inconvenience
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(Definition of palaver from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of palaver

palaver
British diplomats soon forgot the palavers over his appointment.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
You look the palaver wey you don bringamfor my head?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Passing by in the very early hours of the morning, drivers would beep at each palaver tree for clients.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He bugs business calls, with companies' permission, to pick apart the way foreigners palaver.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He had many very impressive palavers with the chiefs.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
He knew how to make decisions, without nonsense and without palaver.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The numbers in those three categories will not decrease; if anything, they will increase, notwithstanding the palaver about family values.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Then, none of that palaver would have taken place.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The more notification that we have and the more palaver surrounding a demonstration, the more it will institutionalise that idea.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The panic which this palaver throws many tenants into is quite something.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
What's the good of going through all this palaver of giving very small sums to very obscure charities?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
I have the greatest difficulty in believing that all this palaver is needed for security purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Intelligent targeting would be possible without the palaver of means testing, and using universal benefits.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
I should not have thought that it was fair to impose upon them this tremendous palaver.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Minor points like that which come under the heading of "not substantially important" can be adjusted without too much palaver.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
See all examples of palaver
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of palaver?
 
C1

Translations of palaver

in Chinese (Traditional)
（不必要的）不便，麻煩, 廢話，空話…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（不必要的）不便，麻烦, 废话，空话…
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in Portuguese
drama, conversa…
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palatine bone BETA
palatini BETA
palato-alveolar
Palau
palaver
palazzo
palazzo pants
pale
pale ale

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literate

UK
/ˈlɪt.ər.ət/
US
/ˈlɪt̬.ɚ.ət/

able to read and write

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