hark back

British  

verb

1. (intr, adverb) to return to an earlier subject, point, or position, as in speech or thought

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hark back Idioms  

1. Return to a previous point, as in Let us hark back briefly to my first statement. This expression originally alluded to hounds retracing their course when they have lost their quarry's scent. It may be dying out. [First half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hark back

Indisputably, there are signs—some of which hark back to the dot-com era—that it is.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

There are passages for unaccompanied chorus that hark back to church music of the Renaissance and moments that seem like Dada before its time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Like is fellow crew, his words hark back to a bygone space age, and the words of then President John F. Kennedey in 1962:

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025

People loved the vintage look of the pink toilets, which hark back to a time when bathrooms — whole houses, really — weren’t quite so bland and boring.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025

Sometimes in public, hearing a stranger, I’d hark back to my past.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Related Words

• degenerate
• go back
• react
• regress
• turn back