talk down

talked down; talking down; talks down

Definition of talk down

intransitive verb

: to speak in a condescending or oversimplified fashion

transitive verb

: to disparage or belittle by talking

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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 Wall Street firms and the leftist national media (are) talking down the Trump stock market and the Trump economy today. — Rex Huppke, chicagotribune.com, "Column: Are the Fake News Media trying to crash Trump’s economy? Oh, yes. We certainly are.," 27 Aug. 2019 But two activists who helped talk down that climber after more than 14 hours said the police should have done more to help someone that the activists said was in crisis — not staging a protest. — Leonardo Castañeda, The Mercury News, "‘I need to get him down:’ Bystander recounts climbing San Jose construction crane to prevent suicide attempt," 14 Aug. 2019 Two other officers were still trapped inside the house more than four hours after the shooting broke out, as dozens if not hundreds of their fellow police outside tried to talk down the shooter and sporadically took fire from him. — Cincinnati.com, "Gunman wounds at least 6 Philadelphia police; 2 more trapped," 14 Aug. 2019 The second man was a good Samaritan who followed in an effort to talk down the original climber, according to a police spokeswoman. — Leonardo Castañeda, The Mercury News, "Man arrested after climbing construction crane in downtown San Jose," 5 Aug. 2019 During the Bush and Obama administrations, Israel was repeatedly talked down from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. — David E. Sanger, BostonGlobe.com, "In faceoff with Iran, escalation may depend on who prevails inside Washington and Tehran," 15 June 2019 The comment was interpreted as an effort to talk down the dollar, which would breach the international nonaggression pact on currency rates. — Jack Ewing, New York Times, "Draghi, Chief of Europe’s Central Bank, Chides Mnuchin Over Dollar Comments," 24 Jan. 2018 Saudi Arabia excels at talking up and talking down the oil market. — Emily Stewart, Vox, "Trump thanks Saudi Arabia for low oil prices after letting it off the hook for Khashoggi murder," 21 Nov. 2018 The players actively talked down their chances in a bid to project an air of humility. — Jonathan Clegg, WSJ, "The World Cup’s Biggest Upset: England Wins on Penalties," 3 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'talk down.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

11 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for talk down

The first known use of talk down was in 1844

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