Word.ws English Dictionary

on speaking terms

on speaking terms prepositional phrase: acquainted and friendly; in a state where salutations and general remarks can be comfortably exchanged.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Acquainted and friendly; in a state where salutations and general remarks can be comfortably exchanged.
    • [Shangai Lily:] I think you are right, if God is still on speaking terms with me.
    • [Mr Carmichael:] God remains on speaking terms with everybody.1932, Jules Furthman, Shanghai Express

Questions about on speaking terms

What does on speaking terms mean?
On speaking terms means acquainted and friendly; in a state where salutations and general remarks can be comfortably exchanged.
What part of speech is on speaking terms?
On speaking terms is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on speaking terms in the dictionary

  1. on someone's radar
  2. on someone's radar screen
  3. on someone's side
  4. on someone's tail
  5. on song
  6. on speaking terms
  7. on spec
  8. on special
  9. on stage
  10. on steroids
  11. on stream

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on speaking terms (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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Cite this entry: “on speaking terms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_speaking_terms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.