What it means
To waffle is to keep talking in a foggy little loop without landing the point, or to dodge a straight answer by padding everything out with fluff. You can waffle in a meeting, on a date, in class, wherever. As a noun, waffle means that same empty chat: loads of words, not much meat on the plate.
Usage examples
"We asked for the budget, and he just waffled about synergy for ten minutes, so I said, mate, stop waffling and spill it."
"He waffled on for twenty minutes and never actually answered the question."
"Stop waffling and tell me straight, are we going or not?"
"Asked him if he'd actually sent the email and he started waffling about timing, pressure and the bigger picture."
"She's lovely, but when you bring up anything awkward she waffles for Britain and hopes you'll drop it."
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Where it comes from
In this sense, waffle is a British usage that took off in the late 20th century for vague, rambling talk with not much substance behind it. It became especially common in politics and everyday chat, where calling something waffle means it sounds busy and wordy but never quite says anything worth keeping.
Other ways to say it
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