Gossip is idle personal talk; groundless rumor.

Not all gossip is bad or damaging, though it can be. At times it may be commendatory about a person or persons; or it may be the mere relating of something trifling or unobjectionable about others, out of human interest. But it is easy to slip into hurtful or troublemaking talk, for gossip is idle talk.

Gossip is talk that reveals something about the doings and the affairs of other persons. It may be unfounded rumor, even a lie, and although the gossiper may not know the untruthfulness of the rumor, he spreads it nevertheless, thereby making himself responsible for propagating a lie. It may be someone’s faults and mistakes that the gossiper is talking about. But even if the things said are true, the gossiper is in the wrong and reveals lack of love.