Meanings
- uncountableVerbal impudence or argumentative discourse, given in response.
Don't give me any backtalk; just go clean your room.
2 more examples
He scratched his head. "Well, damn me," said he. "I never thought I would take orders from a Chink, but he says 'hist!' and by crums you've got to hist and no back talk either."
1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019"Squalled at me that she owned the business and that she wouldn't take any back talk from me and that the piece wasn't for sale. What could I do?"
1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 156
present singular third person backtalks · participle present backtalking · participle past backtalked · past backtalked
Synonyms & antonyms
nounVerbal impudence or argumentative discourse, given in response.
verbTo respond to in an aggressively disputatious, often sarcastic or insolent manner.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan impudent or insolent rejoinder
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian дързък отговор, остроумно възраже́ние
- дързък отговор (dărzăk otgovor)verbal impudence or argument
- остроумно възраже́ние (ostroumno văzražénie)verbal impudence or argument
Chinese Cantonese 駁嘴 /驳嘴
- 駁嘴 /驳嘴 (bok³ zeoi²)verbal impudence or argument
Dutch tegenspraak, tegenspreken
- tegenspraakverbal impudence or argument
- tegensprekendisputatively or sarcastically respond
Esperanto kontraŭparolo, kontraŭdiri
- kontraŭparoloverbal impudence or argument
- kontraŭdiridisputatively or sarcastically respond
- protestidisputatively or sarcastically respond
Finnish suunsoitto, soittaa suutaan
- suunsoittoverbal impudence or argument
- soittaa suutaandisputatively or sarcastically respond
French contradiction, protestation
- contradictionverbal impudence or argument
- protestationverbal impudence or argument
- réponseverbal impudence or argument
- contrediredisputatively or sarcastically respond
- protesterdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- répondredisputatively or sarcastically respond
German Widerworte, Widerrede
- Widerworteverbal impudence or argument
- Widerredeverbal impudence or argument
Irish gearr-aighneas, gearrchaint
- gearr-aighneasverbal impudence or argument
- gearrchaintverbal impudence or argument
- seanchaintverbal impudence or argument
- aibéil chainteverbal impudence or argument
Māori toi, toitoi
- toidisputatively or sarcastically respond
- toitoidisputatively or sarcastically respond
Polish pyskowanie, pyskówka
- pyskowanieverbal impudence or argument
- pyskówkaverbal impudence or argument
- pyskowaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- odpyskiwaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- odpyskowywaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- odpyskowaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- odszczekiwaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
- odszczekaćdisputatively or sarcastically respond
Russian де́рзкий отве́т, ре́зкое возраже́ние
- де́рзкий отве́т (dérzkij otvét)verbal impudence or argument
- ре́зкое возраже́ние (rézkoje vozražénije)verbal impudence or argument
- препира́тельство (prepirátelʹstvo)verbal impudence or argument
- пререка́ния (prerekánija)verbal impudence or argument
- пререка́ться (prerekátʹsja)disputatively or sarcastically respond
- препира́ться (prepirátʹsja)disputatively or sarcastically respond
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
backtalk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backtalk
“backtalk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backtalk. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “backtalk,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backtalk.
Source: backtalk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.