palaver

Drawing up what is known as a Written Ministerial Statement can often be a bit of a palaver, those who do it regularly admit.

From BBC ● May 3, 2023

Kéré’s strong affinity for his native land informs his practice — he references local symbols like the baobab or palaver tree; a traditional blue boubou garment he wore as a child.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2022

Perhaps one upside of the palaver is that Radnor residents have become more politically engaged.

From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2021

The plot features a lot of palaver about Deems’ scheme to switch suppliers and the gangster’s comically thwarted attempts to punish Sportcoat, who’s oblivious to the danger.

From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2020

"It's been quite pleasant, our little palaver, sir," I said.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

He did not just excavate the ethos of Africa from bygone times, he also reflected the present: bringing to life everyone from the politicians to the prostitutes, and prophesied the palavers that were to come.

From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2020

A girl palavers with a strange man with a tie on his head.

From Washington Post ● May 25, 2017

A minor palaver ensued, prolonged as much as possible by the sort of internet crusaders who devote their lives to prolonging minor palavers.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 10, 2012

To still tribal rivalries, Tubman traveled far and wide through the bush to attend palavers with local chiefs, even became grand master of the secret Poro societies, to which all of Liberia's 28 tribes belong.

From Time Magazine Archive

There are numerous palavers pending, but none of any particular moment.

From Sanders of the River by Wallace, Edgar

Eons ago, in the dark ages of video stores, adventurers navigated labyrinthine aisles and palavered with part-time archmaesters to find treasured artifacts of the fantasy film genre.

From The Verge ● Jun. 2, 2018

All week long, under giant camelthorn trees at Serowe, thatched-hut capital of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland in South Africa, the tar-black chieftains of the Bamangwato tribe pondered and palavered.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the back country, often carried in a hammock, the traditional mode of travel for Liberian VIPs, he palavered endlessly with jungle chiefs.

From Time Magazine Archive

The council got together and palavered for an hour, and concluded that there was no chance whatever of the Iroquois venturing to attack such a powerful place as Gloucester.

From True to the Old Flag A Tale of the American War of Independence by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

The Farmer always tried to get out of Paying it, but when the Case came to Trial and the Jurors heard how the Agent palavered the Hay-Seed they had to Snicker right out in Court.

From More Fables by Ade, George

Such palavering is wasted time for a woman facing a literal deadline.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2023

Mr. Suh’s preoccupation is with the construction and collapse of identity, which we witness both in the Charlie Chan scenes and in those that feature Frank and his friends rehearsing and palavering.

From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2015

Fifteen months ago, the Central broke off merger talks with the Pennsylvania, the biggest U.S. railroad, after palavering for 14 months without agreement.

From Time Magazine Archive

While palavering with Jack Paar before millions of viewers not long ago, Georgie went on and on about his watch, a Bulova.

From Time Magazine Archive

Miss Fortune was sure to pull Ellen away and bid her mother "stop that palavering," avowing that "it made her sick."

From The Wide, Wide World by Warner, Susan