parroting

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The mindless repetition of words or ideas without any real understanding of them.

   The student's essay was mere parroting of the textbook, with no original thought.

   Critics dismissed his campaign speech as empty parroting of party slogans.

   Similarregurgitation, repetition

   Note

   Unlike the verb form, this noun can be counted. Michael D. Bayles, in The Legal Essays of Michael Bayles (2002), sets "parrotings of others" beside prejudices and rationalizations, all set against sincere moral conviction. The plural names separate instances of borrowed opinion, and the uncountable form names the habit. Either way it is a dismissive word: calling an argument parroting denies that the speaker has thought it through.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of parrot.

   He was parroting the news anchor's exact words at the dinner table.

   The new intern stood there parroting management's talking points word for word.

   Note

   The -ing form of a verb built on the bird: to parrot is to repeat words the way a parrot does, without necessarily understanding them. It is transitive, so it wants an object, as in parroting the anchor's words or parroting talking points. After be it forms the progressive (she was parroting); as a gerund it heads a phrase (parroting slogans won't help). Its twin, the noun for mindless repetition, takes of instead of a direct object.

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