Meanings
present singular third person talks back · participle present talking back · participle past talked back · past talked back
- idiomaticintransitiveoftenTo reply impertinently or rudely; to answer in a cheeky or rude manner.
Jane talked back a little too often.
2 more examples
Jane talked back to most of her teachers.
And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. “She’s not going to talk back,” one top talent wrangler told me dryly.
2025 October 4, Maureen Dowd, “When A.I. Came for Hollywood”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2025Synonyms: backtalk
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo reply impertinently or rudely; to answer in a cheeky or rude manner.
verbTo return disrespect.
Translations
Chinese Cantonese 駁嘴 /驳嘴
- 駁嘴 /驳嘴 (bok³ zeoi²)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Chinese Mandarin 頂嘴 /顶嘴
- 頂嘴 /顶嘴 (dǐngzuǐ)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Czech odmlouvat
- odmlouvatto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Finnish väittää vastaan
- väittää vastaanto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
French ramener sa gueule
- ramener sa gueuleto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
German Widerworte geben, frech antworten
- Widerworte gebento reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- frech antwortento reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Hebrew הִתְחַצֵּף
- הִתְחַצֵּף (hitkhatséf)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Hungarian felesel, visszabeszél
- feleselto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- visszabeszélto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Italian rispondere in malo modo, rispondere
- rispondere in malo modoto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- rispondereto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- rimbeccareto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- controbattereto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- ribattereto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- eccepireto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Polish odpyskiwać, odpyskowywać
- odpyskiwaćto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- odpyskowywaćto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- odpyskowaćto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Portuguese responder
- responderto reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Russian огрызаться, дерзить
- огрызаться (ogryzatʹsja)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
- дерзить (derzitʹ)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Ukrainian огриза́тися
- огриза́тися (ohryzátysja)to reply impertinently; to answer in a cheeky manner
Cite this entry
talk back. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talk%20back
“talk back.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talk%20back. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “talk back,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/talk%20back.
Source: talk back on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.