talk up

verb

talked up; talking up; talks up

transitive verb

: to discuss favorably : advocate, promote
talk up the new product

intransitive verb

: to speak up plainly or directly

Examples of talk up in a Sentence

the director and actors are making the obligatory rounds of the late-night shows to talk up their new movie feel free to talk up if you have any objections
Recent Examples on the Web In this sparkling milieu, Oliver talks up his background, explaining that growing up in poverty with substance-abusing parents has led him to shun home. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 18 Nov. 2023 For his part, Presley has talked up his blue-collar background and values while trying to ding Reeves by connecting the governor to the welfare scandal. Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 6 Nov. 2023 North Korea's Kim talks up his nuclear weapons policy Sept. 28, 202300:48 Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the pullout reflected the impact of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for the North’s nuclear and missile programs. Reuters, NBC News, 1 Nov. 2023 During the press tour last summer, Nolan extensively talked up the use of Imax cameras, prompting some devoted fans to cross state lines to catch the film in the best possible quality. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 31 Oct. 2023 Qualcomm talked up the lighting capabilities of the chip for video games, with support for Unreal Engine 5 Lumen and better ray tracing. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 24 Oct. 2023 Last fall, on a sunny day in the Chicago exurbs, J. B. Pritzker, well on his way to reëlection as the Democratic governor of Illinois, was knocking on a few doors and talking up his candidacy. Peter Slevin, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2023 Roughly one in seven public companies talked up AI in their most recent annual filings, following a boom in generative AI, which create text or images based on prompts, pushed it into the mainstream. Hanna Zakharenko, Washington Post, 24 Aug. 2023 Coach Kirby Smart did his best to talk up the Cardinals (0-1), but there’s nothing to indicate this will be anything more than a second straight romp for the two-time reigning national champion Bulldogs (1-0). Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 9 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'talk up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1722, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of talk up was in 1722

Dictionary Entries Near talk up

Cite this Entry

“Talk up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/talk%20up. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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