talk down


verb(adverb)
  1. (intr often foll by to) to behave (towards) in a superior or haughty manner

  2. (tr) to override (a person or argument) by continuous or loud talking

  1. (tr) to give instructions to (an aircraft) by radio to enable it to land

Words Nearby talk down

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use talk down in a sentence

  • Charity immediately perceived that something bitter had happened to him, and that he was trying to talk down the recollection.

    Summer | Edith Wharton
  • You can never talk down or sing down or pray down an institution which is voted into existence.

    Susan B. Anthony | Alma Lutz
  • You never can talk down or sing down or pray down an institution which is voted into existence.

  • "Yours isn't the voice to talk down a trumpet," said Leo Ulford, with a sudden air of surliness.

    The Woman With The Fan | Robert Hichens
  • He has his hero, his great man, a professor at the College de France, paid to talk down to the level of his audience.

    Father Goriot | Honore de Balzac

Other Idioms and Phrases with talk down

talk down

Belittle, depreciate, as in They talked down the importance of the move.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.