Meanings
alternative locker-room talk
- slanguncountableA type of boastful, lurid, chauvinistic conversation that commonly takes place in all-male locker rooms, especially such conversation concerning sexual conquests and the like.
This was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly I'm not proud of it. But this is locker room talk.
2016, Donald J. Trump, “Donald J. Trump’s Apology for Vulgar Comments”, in The New York Times1 more example
Locker room talk is both sports talk and dirty talk. Men compete with one another (thus the sports talk), but they control the anxieties associated with competition by downgrading the prize they all want—women.
1988, Larry Hirschhorn, The Workplace Within: Psychodynamics of Organizational Life, pages 130–131
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From locker room + talk, from the stereotype of crude conversations taking place in athletic locker rooms.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Danish omklædningsrumssnak
- omklædningsrumssnaklocker room talk
Polish rozmowy szatniowe
- rozmowy szatniowelocker room talk
Swedish grabbig
- grabbiglocker room talk
Cite this entry
locker room talk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locker%20room%20talk
“locker room talk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locker%20room%20talk. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “locker room talk,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/locker%20room%20talk.
Source: locker room talk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.