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

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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

Later works even more frequently saw Viola looking to Western art, among them Catherine’s Room, 2001, which harks back to Andrea di Bartolo’s Catherine of Siena with Four Blessed Dominicans, ca. —News Desk, Artforum, 15 July 2024

Austria’s resurgent Freedom Party flirted with the center before once again committing itself to overt dog whistles and political references that hark back to the 1930s. —Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 28 June 2024

Xi’s core insight is that the world is increasingly defined by disorder rather than order, a situation that in his view harks back to the nineteenth century, another era characterized by global instability and existential threats to China. —Mark Leonard, Foreign Affairs, 20 June 2023

Anatomy of a Fall is roughly structured like a courtroom thriller, with evidence collecting and interrogation that eventually lead to a lengthy trial; the title and some of the advertising even hark back to Otto Preminger’s 1959 classic, Anatomy of a Murder. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024

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