YENTA Definition & Meaning

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yenta

[ yen-tuh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Slang.

a person, especially a woman, who is a busybody or gossip.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of yenta¹

First recorded in 1930–35; from Yiddish yente, originally a female personal name, earlier Yentl, ultimately from Old Italian; compare Italian gentile “kind, amiable,” originally, “noble, highborn”; gentle

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Last week, she and her fellow “abortion yentas” mobbed the Spanish Colonial Revival building to pressure the city to just let it go.

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What makes "The Nanny" unique is the breath of fresh air brought by curly-haired, mini-skirted Fran, with her yenta mother and her senile yet groovy Romanian immigrant grandmother.

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A natural storyteller with a yenta’s love of mischief, Fierstein paints a vivid portrait of his youth in Bensonhurst, the neighborhood made famous by “The Honeymooners” and “Saturday Night Fever.”

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I also liked that she was someone local with local connections who was just trying to be a yenta.

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Most book scouts are literary yentas, hoping to make a match, having little control over the result.

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