Word.ws English Dictionary

hearken back

Syllables: heark·en backUK/ˌhɑːk(ə)n ˈbæk/US/ˌhɑɹkən ˈbæk/

hearken back verb: synonym of hark back (“to allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)”).

Verb

hearken back (third-person singular simple present hearkens back, present participle hearkening back, simple past and past participle hearkened back)

  1. (proscribed, sometimes) Synonym of hark back (“to allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)”).
    • From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to...2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2020
    Synonyms:
    hark back

Synonyms of hearken back

Forms of hearken back

third-person singular presenthearkens back
present participlehearkening back
past participlehearkened back
pasthearkened back
alternative formharken back

Origin of hearken back

From hearken + back, possibly an erroneous substitution of hearken (“to hear (something) with attention; to have regard to (something); to listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, compliance, or obedience”) for hark: see the usage note.

Questions about hearken back

What does hearken back mean?
Hearken back means synonym of hark back (“to allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)”).
What part of speech is hearken back?
Hearken back is a verb.
How do you pronounce hearken back?
Hearken back is pronounced /ˌhɑːk(ə)n ˈbæk/ (UK).
What is the past tense of hearken back?
The past tense of hearken back is hearkened back.

Words near hearken back in the dictionary

  1. hearings
  2. heark
  3. hearked
  4. hearkee
  5. hearken
  6. hearken back
  7. hearkened
  8. hearkened back
  9. hearkenedst
  10. hearkener
  11. hearkeners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hearken back (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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