talk — OAT · Shobdo

talk

verb

1 I was talking to a friend who lives in the next town:

speak, give voice, chat;

chatter, gossip, prattle, prate, babble, rattle on, blather, blether, orate;

informal yak, gab, jaw, go on, chew the fat;

British, informal natter, rabbit, witter, chunter;

North American, informal rap, run off at the mouth;

Australian/NZ, informal mag.

2 you're talking nonsense:

utter, speak, say, voice, express, articulate, pronounce, enunciate, verbalize, vocalize.

3 the music was quieter in here, and they were able to talk:

converse, communicate, speak to each other, discuss things, have a talk, have a chat, have a tête-à-tête, confer, consult each other;

negotiate, have negotiations, parley, palaver;

informal have a confab, chew the fat/rag, jaw, rap;

formal confabulate.

4 for all the love that he felt for her, and she him, they had never talked of marriage:

mention, make mention of, refer to, make reference to, speak about, discuss.

5 I was able to talk English:

speak, speak in, talk in, communicate in, converse in, express oneself in, discourse in, use.

6 nothing would make her talk:

confess, speak out, speak up, reveal all, inform, tell tales, tell, divulge information, tell the facts, give the game away, open one's mouth;

informal come clean, blab, squeal, let the cat out of the bag, spill the beans, spill one's guts, sing, rat;

British, informal grass.

7 we mustn't keep meeting like this—people will talk:

gossip, spread rumors, pass comment, make remarks, criticize.

□ talk back

he was always talking back to Dad:

answer back, answer defiantly, be impertinent, answer impertinently, be cheeky, be rude, contradict, argue with, disagree with.

□ talk big

informal

Henry was new to the job but he was already talking big:

brag, boast, crow, bluster, exaggerate;

informal blow one's own trumpet, shoot one's mouth off, swank, show off;

Australian/NZ, informal skite, big-note oneself.

□ talk something down

1 people constantly talk down the coal industry:

denigrate, depreciate, deprecate, disparage, belittle, diminish, criticize;

informal knock, pan, put down.

2 the last Lancaster bomber was talked down to safety after the raid:

give landing instructions to, bring to land, help to land.

□ talk down to

students on the course were talked down to as though they were children:

condescend to, patronize, treat condescendingly, speak condescendingly to, speak haughtily to, look down one's nose at, look down on, put down, be snobbish to.

□ talk someone into something

he talked her into parting with an art collection worth $30,000:

persuade someone to, convince someone to, argue someone into, cajole someone into, coax someone into, bring someone around to, talk someone around to, inveigle someone into, wheedle someone into, sweet-talk someone into, influence someone to, prevail on someone to;

informal hustle, fast-talk.

□ talk someone out of something

I quickly talked him out of staying in Britain:

dissuade from, persuade against, discourage from, deter from, stop, put off, advise against, urge against, divert from, argue out of.

□ talk someone around

he nearly did give up, and it was only mom who talked him around:

persuade, prevail on, bring around, win over, influence, sway, convert, affect, bias;

manipulate, bend, mold.

□ talk something up

the film is being talked up for the awards season:

promote, push, boost, hype, merchandise, publicize, advertise, give publicity to, give a puff to, puff, puff up, build up, beat/bang the drum for;

informal plug.

noun

1 he was bored with all this talk:

chatter, chatting, chattering, gossiping, prattling, prating, gibbering, jabbering, babbling, gabbling, rattling on, speaking, talking;

informal yakking, gabbing;

British, informal nattering, rabbiting, wittering.

2 Polly felt in need of a talk with Vi, the person she turned to in an emergency:

conversation, chat, discussion, tête-à-tête, heart-to-heart, dialogue, colloquy, parley, consultation, conference, meeting;

informal confab, jaw, chitchat, rap, powwow, gossip;

Australian, informal convo;

formal confabulation.

3 (talks) he held peace talks with his United Kingdom counterpart:

negotiations, discussions;

conference, summit, meeting, consultation, dialogue, symposium, seminar, conclave, colloquy, palaver, parley;

bargaining, haggling, wheeling and dealing;

mediation, arbitration, intercession, conciliation;

informal powwow;

formal confabulation.

4 a firefighter giving a talk on her personal experiences:

lecture, speech, address, discourse, oration, presentation, report, sermon, disquisition, dissertation, symposium;

informal spiel.

5 there was talk of a takeover:

gossip, rumor, hearsay, tittle-tattle, news, report.

6 the talk was of what their grandchildren were up to:

chat, conversation, discussion, gossip;

subject, theme, topic;

information, news.

7 baby talk:

speech, language, dialect, jargon, cant, slang, idiom, idiolect, patois, accent;

words;

informal lingo.