as in dismissing
to express scornfully one's low opinion of
a company that prefers to talk up its own products rather than talk down those of its competitors
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Recent Examples of talking down
Never met someone successful ever talking down to someone online.
—
Tracy Wright, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2025
Worldfor never talking down to me or being too afraid to address the hard things in life.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 11 Sep. 2025
Boys Go to Jupiter captures an adolescent malaise without talking down to its teens — there is no preaching about real jobs, responsibilities, or five-year plans.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2025
Tracy Wright, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2025
Worldfor never talking down to me or being too afraid to address the hard things in life.
—Anna Earl, Parents, 11 Sep. 2025
Boys Go to Jupiter captures an adolescent malaise without talking down to its teens — there is no preaching about real jobs, responsibilities, or five-year plans.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for talking down
Verb
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In the aftermath of the meeting, LSU personnel met to discuss the viability of dismissing the coach, considering his massive buyout clause.—
Nelson Espinal,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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Comments such as these underlie the medical establishment’s long history of dismissing women’s pain, which can further harm their health.—
Tanya Lewis,
Scientific American,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Once stationary, deactivate all lights except the hazard flashers, engage the emergency brake, and release the brake pedal to ensure your tail lights remain unlit, minimizing the chance of other drivers colliding with your stationary vehicle.—
Bay Area Weather Report,
Mercury News,
25 Oct. 2025
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Macy is a surprisingly empathetic narrator, seeking to find common ground with QAnon conspiracists and Second Amendment fundamentalists, without ever minimizing her own beliefs.—
Grace Byron,
New Yorker,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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All colors—black, green, pink, pistachio, red, blue, and white—have the wide lines running down the sides in contrasting colors.—
Olivia Young,
Travel + Leisure,
25 Oct. 2025
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The team identified a continuous midline feature that began as a fleshy crest along the neck and trunk and transitioned over the hips into a single row of spikes running down the tail — each spike positioned over a single vertebra and fitted to each other.—
Abhishek Bhardwaj,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This pattern of visits from Americans of steadily diminishing rank (watch for a visit from a deputy director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in mid-January) suggests the opposite of sustained attention.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
26 Oct. 2025
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Hormone therapy is often an effective option for menopausal women who are experiencing these uncomfortable symptoms due to the diminishing levels of ovarian hormones.—
Essence,
Essence,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Instead of taking a low profile and playing down any claims to Taiwan’s independent status like his more cautious DPP predecessor Tsai Ying-wen, Lai has lurched toward formal independence with a succession of speeches making the case for Taiwanese nationhood.—
Lyle Goldstein,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
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Before this weekend’s game, Town manager Gavin Macpherson was playing down the rivalry.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Last week started with the big banks delivering strong earnings and ended with regional lenders writing off bad loans.—
Zev Fima,Kevin Stankiewicz,
CNBC,
19 Oct. 2025
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The mistake is writing off these sayings as coach speak.—
Daniel Popper,
New York Times,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Talking down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/talking%20down. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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