Word.ws English Dictionary

talks back

talks back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of talk back.

Meaning of talk back

Verb

talk back (third-person singular simple present talks back, present participle talking back, simple past and past participle talked back)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, often) To reply impertinently or rudely; to answer in a cheeky or rude manner.
    • Jane talked back a little too often.
    Synonyms:
    backtalk
  2. (idiomatic) To return disrespect.
    Synonyms:
    answer back

Questions about talks back

What is talks back the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Talks back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of talk back.

Words near talks back in the dictionary

  1. talks about
  2. talks about the weather
  3. talks against time
  4. talks around
  5. talks at
  6. talks back
  7. talks big
  8. talks cock
  9. talks dirty
  10. talks down
  11. talks down to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: talks back (page history and authors); talk 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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Cite this entry: “talks back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/talks_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.