talk down
Britishverb
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to behave (towards) in a superior or haughty manner
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(tr) to override (a person or argument) by continuous or loud talking
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(tr) to give instructions to (an aircraft) by radio to enable it to land
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Belittle, depreciate, as in They talked down the importance of the move .
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Silence someone by speaking loudly and persistently, as in They talked down whatever objections she brought up . [Early 1800s]
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Help an aircraft to land by giving directions via radio, as in The fog was so thick the control tower had to talk us down . [c. 1940]
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See talk down to .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So why is Broadcom talking down its major success with Google?
From Barron's
Energy Secretary Chris Wright appears “less focused on talking down prices and more on rebuilding a pillar of support through steady buying,” she said, so that shift in posture likely contributed to Wednesday’s bounce.
From MarketWatch
Honoré tried to be a steadying force in a misinformation maelstrom and found himself veering between comforting the sickly and frightened and talking down heavily armed military forces training their guns on harmless flood victims.
From Salon
"We feel like we're being talked down to like stupid children."
From BBC
The piece talked down to Roan and diminished her requests as childish and unthinking — ironic for something as petulant as the column reads.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.