Meanings
present singular third person hearkens back · participle present hearkening back · participle past hearkened back · past hearkened back · alternative harken back
- proscribedsometimesSynonym of hark back (“to allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)”).
1 more example
From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to its beginning, suggesting (at least for now) that the wheel continues to turn, sending us back into a pattern begun seven seasons prior.
2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 18 Dec 2020Synonyms: hark back
Synonyms & antonyms
verbSynonym of hark back (“to allude, return, or revert (to a subject previously mentioned, etc.); also, to evoke, or long or pine for (a past era or event)”).
Origin
From hearken + back, possibly an erroneous substitution of hearken (“to hear (something) with attention; to have regard to (something); to listen; to attend or give heed to what is uttered; to hear with attention, compliance, or obedience”) for hark: see the usage note.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hearken back. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearken%20back
“hearken back.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearken%20back. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hearken back,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hearken%20back.
Source: hearken back on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.