talk a good game

English

Alternative forms

• talk a big game

Pronunciation

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Verb

talk a good game (third-person singular simple present talks a good game, present participle talking a good game, simple past and past participle talked a good game)

1. (idiomatic) To speak emphatically and at length about one's ability, intentions, or achievements, without yet producing any clear evidence or actual results.
   • 1992 July 24, Gwen Ifill, “The 1992 campaign: Clinton, in Houston Speech, Assails Bush on Crime Issue”, in New York Times, retrieved 8 April 2018:

     "It's a difference between action and inaction. Anybody can talk a good game."

   • 2005 November 18, Niall Quinn, “Football: Deadly Doug should stand by O'Leary in Villa's hour of need”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 8 April 2018:

     For the last 20 years they have been talking a good game about what should be done, but they have not come up with the solution yet.

   • 2010 September 9, Chengcheng Jiang, “Why Foreign Businesses in China Are Getting Mad”, in Time, retrieved 8 April 2018:

     De Boisséson acknowledges that Beijing is talking a good game, but he cautions that sweet words from the leadership do not always translate into law.

   • 2012 October 19, “U.S. CEOs’ rosy spin whitewashes weak results”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 8 April 2018:

     Corporate America has been talking a good game this earnings season, but a closer look shows the results are not nearly as strong as CEO optimism might lead investors to believe.

   • 2024 April 16, David A. Graham, “Trump’s Alternate-Reality Criminal Trial”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Even if Trump isn’t righteously jousting with the judge and being persecuted by the Soros machine, he can tell his base that he is. Even better, he can talk a good game without doing things that might risk judicial sanctions.

Synonyms

• bluff, boast, spin, talk big, talk the talk

Antonyms

• walk the talk