hark back
verb
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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 acquired its current figurative meanings concerned with returning to the past. The variants hearken and harken (also very old words meaning "to listen") are also used, with and without back, as synonyms of hark back.
Examples of hark back in a Sentence
Philip Elliott, Time, 10 Jan. 2026
The vintage silhouette harked back to Grace Kelly, who famously wore voluminous gowns throughout the 1950s.
—Kelsey Stewart, Footwear News, 4 Jan. 2026
Designers, after all, have been relentlessly obsessed with harking back to both of these influential eras as of late.
—Christian Allaire, Vogue, 4 Dec. 2025
For Dylan, 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Dion DiMucci is anything but a complete unknown, harking back to his enchantment that 1959 winter night in Duluth.
—Jeff Metcalfe, AZCentral.com, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hark back
Cite this Entry
“Hark back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hark%20back. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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