talk a good game

present singular third person talks a good game · participle present talking a good game · participle past talked a good game · past talked a good game

1. idiomaticTo speak emphatically and at length about one's ability, intentions, or achievements, without yet producing any clear evidence or actual results.

   "It's a difference between action and inaction. Anybody can talk a good game."

   1992 July 24, Gwen Ifill, “The 1992 campaign: Clinton, in Houston Speech, Assails Bush on Crime Issue”, in New York Times, retrieved 08 Apr 2018

   4 more examples

   For the last 20 years they have been talking a good game about what should be done, but they have not come up with the solution yet.

   2005 November 18, Niall Quinn, “Football: Deadly Doug should stand by O'Leary in Villa's hour of need”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 08 Apr 2018

   De Boisséson acknowledges that Beijing is talking a good game, but he cautions that sweet words from the leadership do not always translate into law.

   2010 September 9, Chengcheng Jiang, “Why Foreign Businesses in China Are Getting Mad”, in Time, retrieved 08 Apr 2018

   Corporate America has been talking a good game this earnings season, but a closer look shows the results are not nearly as strong as CEO optimism might lead investors to believe.

   2012 October 19, “U.S. CEOs’ rosy spin whitewashes weak results”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 08 Apr 2018

   Even if Trump isn’t righteously jousting with the judge and being persecuted by the Soros machine, he can tell his base that he is. Even better, he can talk a good game without doing things that might risk judicial sanctions.

   2024 April 16, David A. Graham, “Trump’s Alternate-Reality Criminal Trial”, in The Atlantic

   Synonyms: talk a big game, bluff, boast, spin, talk big, talk the talk