talk\ back

talk\ back
• talk back
• answer back
v informal
To answer rudely; reply in a disrespectful way; be fresh.

When the teacher told the boy to sit down, he talked back to her and said she couldn't make him.

Mary talked back when her mother told her to stop watching television; she said, "I don't have to if I don't want to."

Russell was going somewhere with some bad boys, when his father told him it was wrong, Russell answered him back, "Mind your own business."


Словарь американских идиом. — СПб., Изд-во "Лань". . 1997.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • talk back to — talk back (to (someone)) to answer rudely. They were arrested on minor charges after talking back to a police officer. In my family, kids just never talked back. Etymology: based on the literal meaning of talk back (= to answer someone) …   New idioms dictionary

  • talk back — (to (someone)) to answer rudely. They were arrested on minor charges after talking back to a police officer. In my family, kids just never talked back. Etymology: based on the literal meaning of talk back (= to answer someone) …   New idioms dictionary

  • talk back — ANSWER BACK, be impertinent, be cheeky, be rude; contradict, argue with, disagree with. → talk * * * intransitive verb Etymology: talk (I) + back, adverb : to speak in answer usually to a command or admonishment in a flippant or impertinent… …   Useful english dictionary

  • talk back — phrasal verb [intransitive] Word forms talk back : present tense I/you/we/they talk back he/she/it talks back present participle talking back past tense talked back past participle talked back to reply quickly and often rudely to something that… …   English dictionary

  • talk back — v. (D; intr.) to talk back to (to talk back to one s boss) * * * [ tɔːk bæk] (D;intr.) to talk back to (to talk back to one s boss) …   Combinatory dictionary

  • talk back — PHRASAL VERB If you talk back to someone in authority such as a parent or teacher, you answer them in a rude way. [V P to n] How dare you talk back to me! [V P] ...I talked back and asked questions. Syn: answer back …   English dictionary

  • talk-back — ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun ( s) Etymology: from the phrase talk back, from talk (I) + back, adverb : a two way radio system providing especially for one receiving instructions or directions to speak back to the instructor; especially : such a system set …   Useful english dictionary

  • talk-back — /tawk bak /, n. Radio and Television. a communications system enabling those in the studio to hear control room personnel through a loudspeaker or headphones. [n. use of v. phrase talk back] * * * …   Universalium

  • talk back — reply without respect, lip off    In China, kids don t talk back to their parents, do they? …   English idioms

  • talk back — answer rudely She is very strict and never allows her children to talk back to her …   Idioms and examples

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