hark back

verb

harked back; harking back; harks back

intransitive verb

1

: to turn back to an earlier topic or circumstance

2

: to go back to something as an origin or source

Did you know?

Hark Back Got Its Start in Hunting

Hark, a very old word meaning "to listen," was used as a cry in hunting. The master of the hunt might cry "Hark! Forward!" or "Hark! Back!" The cries became set phrases, both as nouns and verbs. Thus, a "hark back" was a retracing of a route by dogs and hunters, and to "hark back" was to turn back along the path. From its use in hunting, the verb soon acquired its current figurative meanings. The variants hearken and harken (also very old words meaning “to listen”) are also used, with and without back, as synonyms of hark back.

Synonyms

• flash back (to)
• harken back (to)
• hearken back (to)
• mind [chiefly dialect]
• recall
• recollect
• remember
• reminisce (about)
• reproduce
• think (of)

Examples of hark back in a Sentence

the new stadium, designed for nostalgic appeal, harks back to the intimate ballparks of yore

Recent Examples on the Web

The professor said that harked back to the origins of the student labor movement, when the first graduate unions formed in the 1960s during the campus free speech and antiwar movements. —Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2024

But from the start, the song harked back to an earlier hit. —David Browne, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2024

His work has proved so durable that nutritional labels on every grocery-store item today hark back to it. —Michelle Stacey, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2024

Over the years, Representative Henry Cuellar often harked back to the small house in Laredo, Texas. —Kitty Bennett, New York Times, 13 May 2024

The closest historical similarities to Ukraine’s predicament hark back to the world wars of the 20th century, where finding and identifying soldiers missing in action continues to this day. —Maria Varenikova, New York Times, 5 May 2024

Take the thundering title track, which seems to hark back to the furious protest music of their early albums, celebrating the sheer force of collective resistance. —Liam Hess, Vogue, 25 Mar. 2024

The Voice was perpetually harking back to a better (i.e., more radical) era. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024

That term is a loaded one in Hebrew parlance, harking back to the sorting of prisoners at Nazi concentration camps. —Ruth Margalit, The New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

hark back

verb

: to recall or cause to recall something earlier

hark back to the good old days