Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GAGGLE

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pronounce GAGGLE: Say it "GAG ull." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: If you're describing a crowd of noisy people who are chattering and milling around randomly, like a flock of geese, you might call them a gaggle. But if they're moving quickly, all together, full of purpose and direction, like a herd of cattle, you might call them a d____. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   definition: Think of the noises that geese make, and you can hear how the word "gaggle" probably came from imitating that sound.  Going back to the year 1399, "gaggle" has meant "to cackle like a goose." It also grew to mean "to talk quickly and loudly." Later, in the fifteenth century, a popular time for inventing words to describe certain groups of animals, people picked "gaggle" to mean "a group of geese." It can still mean that today. And it can also mean any group of loud people, especially women. Even more figuratively, it can mean any noisy or disorganized group of things. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun, the countable kind: "a gaggle of girls," "this gaggle of partygoers." Other forms:  The plural is "gaggles." "Gaggle" can be a verb, too, but it's rare: "They stood gaggling outside the classroom." how to use it: When you need a neutral or slightly insulting word for a group of loud people, call them a gaggle. By choosing this word, you're comparing those people to geese: you're saying they're loud and silly, and perhaps also messy, disorganized, irritating, and/or self-important. You might talk about a gaggle of children, or girls, or partygoers, or reporters. examples: "Haymitch has done it! He's gotten the medicine — I don't know how, persuaded some gaggle of romantic fools to sell their jewels — and I can save Peeta!"      — Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, 2008    "These pastors have private entrances, reserved parking spaces, security details and a gaggle of personal assistants or handlers."    — Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post, 22 March 2021 has this page helped you understand "gaggle"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "gaggle" without saying "noisy group" or "loud crowd." try it out: In Time, Charlotte Alter observed that, in books and movies, "women's stories are almost always told in the context of their relationships with other people... if a woman's not half of a couple, she must be part of a gaggle." Talk about what she means. What are some stories that focus on a gaggle of girls or women? What makes them a "gaggle" instead of a "unit" or a "team"? Can you think of any stories that disprove Alter's point: any stories that focus on a female character who exists outside of a couple and outside of a gaggle? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for this month is "Provocative Verbs." Check out the headline below. Originally, it included some highly emotional verb, like "bushwhack," "agonize," or "soar." But I've swapped it out for an emotionless one. Try to restore the strong feelings that the headline originally evoked by choosing your own highly emotional verb to swap back in. For example, instead of "St. Jude Keeps Billions While Many of Its Families Use Their Savings," you might come up with "St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings," the original provocative headline from ProPublica.  Scroll all the way down to see the original headline. You might think of the same verbs as the original writers did, or yours might be even spicier.  Try this one today: From the Wall Street Journal: "Millennials Are Strengthening the Housing Market" review this word: 1. A near opposite of a GAGGLE is A. a STEADY HAND. B. an EARNEST OFFER. C. a SOLEMN CONGREGATION. 2. Search for any household item on Amazon--shoelaces, an umbrella, a toaster--and you're instantly among a gaggle of options, all clamoring for your attention, _____ their various features and benefits. A. singing and blinking out B. honking and squawking out C. dancing and pirouetting around Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B From the game, the original headline: "Millennials Are Supercharging the Housing Market" a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.