Word.ws English Dictionary

on talking terms

on talking terms prepositional phrase: able to talk with someone, either in general or about the particular topic.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) able to talk with someone, either in general or about the particular topic
    • They weren't on talking terms last time we saw them.
    • It is more professional to accept differences, no matter what the grievance, and walk away on talking terms.
  2. (figuratively, idiomatic) in agreement or harmony with (something)
    • Reality and I were simply not on talking terms.
  3. (rare) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, talking, terms.
    • After completing the last lesson, the student should be on “talking terms” with anyone who discusses the subject of algebra.

Questions about on talking terms

What does on talking terms mean?
On talking terms means able to talk with someone, either in general or about the particular topic.
What part of speech is on talking terms?
On talking terms is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on talking terms in the dictionary

  1. on stun
  2. on sufferance
  3. on swole
  4. on sync
  5. on tag
  6. on talking terms
  7. on tap
  8. on tape
  9. on target
  10. on task
  11. on television

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on talking 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on talking terms.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on talking terms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_talking_terms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.