uptalk

up·talk | \ ˈəp-ˌtȯk

variants: or less commonly up-talk

Definition of uptalk

: speech in which each clause, sentence, etc., ends like a question with a rising inflection Starting in America with the Valley Girls of the 1980s …, uptalk became common among young women across the country by the 1990s.— Douglas Quenqua, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2012

— called also upspeak

Other Words from uptalk

uptalk or less commonly up-talk intransitive verb uptalked also up-talked; uptalking also up-talking; uptalks also up-talks

… girls in my high school who used to buy expensive sandwiches and uptalk. — Amy Sohn, New York Post, 14 Sept. 1999 The road to job success starts after you study up on these 10 real-world work rules. … 2 Don't up-talk. Speaking in a singsong voice and posing statements as if they were questions leave you sounding girlie and unsure. — Colleen Rush, Cosmopolitan, January 2006

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