talking head

noun

1. Television Slang. a closeup picture of a person who is talking, especially as a participant in a talk show.
2. Slang. a person whose talk is empty and pretentious.

talking head

noun

1. (on television) a person, such as a newscaster, who is shown only from the shoulders up, and speaks without the use of any illustrative material

Word History and Origins

Origin of talking head¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

The situation has become so dire that even some of the people who created the disinformation problem in the first place—the talking heads at Fox and GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell—are belatedly starting to urge people to be vaccinated.

From The Daily Beast

The film features talking heads like David Chang and Eric Ripert and speaking about Bourdain’s life, with Chang saying Bourdain was on a constant mission to be a “better person.”

From Eater

As the film eschews the typical talking heads, those views are presented largely without context.

From Time

The film charts the group’s evolution over decades, bringing in talking heads from the music sphere, among them Beck, the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, and members of Duran Duran.

From Time

A cottage industry has sprung up around scouting NFL prospects, from gossipy recruiting sites to snake oil-style talking heads.

From Ozy

The incident with Tony Kornheiser, a Pardon the Interruption talking head, serves to highlight the problem with ESPN.

From The Daily Beast

Hanks appears as a talking head in several episodes of the series.

From The Daily Beast

The video was less about seeing me and all about hearing me: I was a talking head with audio aides around my laptop.

From The Daily Beast

Sure, these are things that his talking-head colleagues have said, in various ways, before.

From The Daily Beast

We live in a world where moderate voices are whispered and talking-head political centrists have gone the way of the dinosaur.

From The Daily Beast

Mr. Stone looked and Mr. Stone spoke like a "talking head" when he came in upon us that awful day.

From Project Gutenberg

Probably the most common of all of the illusions which depend upon mirrors is the Talking Head upon a table.

From Project Gutenberg

This illusion is a very ingenious improvement on the “Talking Head.”

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• commentator
• newscaster