talk back

See also: talkback

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (idiomatic, intransitive, often with to + d.o.) To reply impertinently or rudely; to answer in a cheeky or rude manner.

   Jane talked back a little too often.

   Jane talked back to most of her teachers.

2. (idiomatic) To return disrespect.

Synonyms

• (reply impertinently): backtalk (verb)
• (both senses): answer back

Derived terms

• talkback (noun)

Translations

to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner

• Bavarian: wem a Goschn åhänga
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 駁嘴／驳嘴 (bok³ zeoi²)

  Mandarin: 頂嘴／顶嘴 (zh) (dǐngzuǐ)

• Czech: odmlouvat
• Finnish: väittää vastaan
• French: ramener sa gueule (fr) (colloquial)
• German: Widerworte geben, frech antworten
• Hebrew: הִתְחַצֵּף (hitkhatsef, literally “he talked back”)
• Italian: rispondere in malo modo, rispondere (it), rimbeccare (it), controbattere (it), ribattere (it), eccepire (it)
• Polish: odpyskiwać impf, odpyskowywać impf, odpyskować pf
• Russian: огрызаться (ru) (ogryzatʹsja), дерзить (ru) (derzitʹ)

Anagrams

• backtalk