Meanings
plural hark-backs · alternative hark back
- figurativelyAn act of alluding, returning, or reverting (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, an act of evoking, or longing or pining for (a past era or event).
The addendum cancelling the closures refers to 14 pages […] in which Table 183 is reproduced in its old form with connections to and from Liverpool, Bradford, York, Edinburgh etc. – a hark-back to G.C. ambitions.
1961 June, “Talking of Trains: Early Timetables – but at a Price”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 325Synonyms: callback
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn act of alluding, returning, or reverting (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, an act of evoking, or longing or pining for (a past era or event).
Origin
Deverbal from hark back.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hark-back. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hark-back
“hark-back.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hark-back. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hark-back,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hark-back.
Source: hark-back on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.