Word.ws English Dictionary

talk is cheap

talk is cheap proverb: it is easy to make boastful or unrealistic statements which are not supported by actions or evidence.

Proverb

talk is cheap

  1. (idiomatic) It is easy to make boastful or unrealistic statements which are not supported by actions or evidence.
    • Cecil Winwood accepted the test. He claimed that he could dope the guards the night of the break. “Talk is cheap,” said Long Bill Hodge. “What we want is the goods. Dope one of the guards to-night.”1915, Jack London, chapter 2, in The Star-Rover
    • "If I ever set eyes on that savage again, I'll kill him. You know that, don't you, you damn squaw?" She shrugged. "Talk's cheap."1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Flame on the Frontier; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 29

Origin of talk is cheap

The expression first appears c. 1783 in the play All pleas'd at last.

Questions about talk is cheap

What does talk is cheap mean?
Talk is cheap means it is easy to make boastful or unrealistic statements which are not supported by actions or evidence.
What part of speech is talk is cheap?
Talk is cheap is a proverb.

Words near talk is cheap in the dictionary

  1. talk down to
  2. talk everything
  3. talk fast and loose
  4. talk in circles
  5. talk into
  6. talk is cheap
  7. talk jock
  8. talk jockey
  9. talk jockeys
  10. talk jocks
  11. talk like a book

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: talk is cheap (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-talk is cheap.ogg.

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