talk down

verb

talked down; talking down; talks down

intransitive verb

: to speak in a condescending or oversimplified fashion

transitive verb

: to disparage or belittle by talking

Synonyms

• bad-mouth
• belittle
• cry down
• decry
• denigrate
• deprecate
• depreciate
• derogate
• diminish
• dis [slang]
• diss
• discount
• dismiss
• disparage
• kiss off
• minimize
• play down
• poor-mouth
• put down
• run down
• trash
• trash-talk
• vilipend
• write off

Examples of talk down in a Sentence

a company that prefers to talk up its own products rather than talk down those of its competitors

Recent Examples on the Web

The customer service rep who talks down the angry client. —Ryan Wong, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025

Trump acknowledged in a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade that Russia attacked Ukraine but still suggested former President Biden and Zelensky shared blame for failing to talk down Moscow. —Brett Samuels, The Hill, 21 Feb. 2025

But Jones has talked down a possible bout with Aspinall and suggested that a battle with current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira made more sense to him. —Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 3 Mar. 2025

The lack of Blues Brothers co-creator Aykroyd meant no Jimmy Carter talking down a guy peaking on LSD. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 16 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1642, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for talk down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown

Kids Definition

talk down

verb

: to speak in an overly simple manner as if to a person who does not know much