hearken

verb

heark·​en ˈhär-kən 

variants or harken

hearkened or harkened; hearkening ˈhärk-niŋ 

ˈhär-kə-

or harkening

intransitive verb

1

: listen

hearkened without much mental comment

—Theodore Dreiser

2

: to give respectful attention

the humble folk who hearkened to these evangelists

—G. M. Stephenson

3

: to bring to mind something in the past : hearken back

Portrayals of dinosaurs with lizard-like tongues hearken to early interpretations of the beasts as oversized lizards.

—Mindy Weisberger

transitive verb

archaic : to give heed to : hear

Synonyms

• attend
• hark
• harken
• hear
• heed
• listen
• mind

Example Sentences

hearken! I hear the distant beat of the hooves of many horses

Recent Examples on the Web

The Morgans’ comedy hearkens to an earlier era of domestic fodder. —Karen Heller, Washington Post, 10 May 2023

To be able to unite the cruise piece with wellness writing in a single essay promised a glory and quantity of free stuff that would hearken to the heyday of print magazines, back when things mattered. —Lauren Oyler, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023

And this one’s hearkening a bygone era when life was analog. —The Astrotwins, ELLE, 1 Apr. 2023

Trot, a genre of Korean pop music, hearkens to the Japanese colonial era and has a Sinatra-like crooner sound. —Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2023

The wood of the train cars was stained a beautiful blue, the same color that can be seen even today on certain bricks at Auschwitz; both hearken to cyanide’s origins as a byproduct isolated in 1782 from the first modern synthetic pigment, Prussian blue. —Benjamín Labatut, Harper's Magazine, 28 Sep. 2021

The bolt glides smoothly in the receiver, the two-stage trigger is marvelous, the ergonomics of the stock geometry are spot-on, and touches like being able to adjust the position of the trigger for reach hearken to Anschutz’s Gold Medal–winning competition guns. —John B. Snow, Outdoor Life, 14 Sep. 2020

There are lots of lines and groovy corners that hearken to early Epcot days. —Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 18 Jan. 2023

The pragmatic materials choices — such as panels that are generally employed by the refrigerated transport industry — hearken to the Eames’ use of prefab Cemesto wall panels in their own home. —Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2021

See More

Word History

Etymology

Middle English herknen, from Old English heorcnian; akin to Old High German hōrechen to listen, Old English hīeran to hear

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Phrases Containing hearken

• hearken back

• hearken back

Kids Definition

hearken

verb

hear·​ken

ˈhär-kən

hearkened; hearkening

ˈhärk-(ə-)niŋ

: listen sense 1, attend