talk down to

T t

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [tawk doun too]
- /tɔk daʊn tu/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [tawk doun too]
- /tɔk daʊn tu/

Definitions of talk down to words

verb without object talk down to to communicate or exchange ideas, information, etc., by speaking: to talk about poetry. 1
verb without object talk down to to consult or confer: Talk with your adviser. 1
verb without object talk down to to spread a rumor or tell a confidence; gossip. 1
verb without object talk down to to chatter or prate. 1
verb without object talk down to to employ speech; perform the act of speaking: to talk very softly; to talk into a microphone. 1
verb without object talk down to to deliver a speech, lecture, etc.: The professor talked on the uses of comedy in the tragedies of Shakespeare. 1

See all 29 definitions of talk down to

Information block about the term

Origin of talk down to

First appearance:

before 1175

One of the 8% oldest English words

1175-1225; Middle English talk(i)en to converse, speak, derivative (with -k suffix) of tale speech, discourse, tale; cognate with Frisian (E dial.) talken

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Talk down to

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Talk down to

talk down to popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 100% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

talk down to usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for talk down to

verb talk down to

condescend — If someone condescends to do something, they agree to do it, but in a way which shows that they think they are better than other people and should not have to do it.

Just one Synonym for talk down to