v. 1 Sometimes, talk in. speak (in), use, communicate in, converse in, express (oneself) in, discourse in If you talk English I might understand 2 confer, consult, parley, have a (little) talk, (have a) chat, confabulate, Colloq confab, Slang US rap I think we ought to talk before you decide which offer to accept 3 chatter, prate, prattle, jabber, blather or blether, gibber, jibber-jabber, cackle, babble, patter, rattle on, go on, Brit natter, witter, rabbit on, Colloq gab, Slang gas, jaw , US run off at the mouth They talk continuously, mostly about nothing 4 chat, gossip, palaver, Slang chew the fat or the rag, shoot the breeze, US chin, schmooze, rap, have a bull session, bat the breeze, shoot the bull We were just sitting around talking when Tom suggested we go for a swim 5 inform, confess, give the game away, blab, Colloq come clean, Slang rat, squeal, sing, spill the beans, Brit grass If they give him the third degree, you can be sure he'll talk 6 speak, give or deliver a speech or a talk or an address, lecture I believe that Professor Hale is talking at the County Library tonight 7 talk about or over or of. discuss, confer about or on, parley about I don't want to talk about football all the time Can't we talk it over? She talks only of you. 8 talk big. boast, brag, vaunt, crow, bluster, exaggerate, blow or toot (one's) own horn He was never in the war - he just talks big 9 talk down. a depreciate, deprecate, denigrate, disparage, belittle, minimize, diminish, criticize, Colloq knock, pan, put down It's the only thing he's ever done, and you shouldn't talk it down b Usually, talk down to. condescend to, patronize I resent your talking down to me in that way 10 talk into. convince, bring round, sway, persuade We have been trying to talk him into running in the marathon 11 talk over. discuss We talked over the best way to prepare the advertising proposal 12 talk to or with. speak to or with, communicate with, converse with Since the episode with the monkey, she refuses to talk to me I talked with him yesterday. 13 talk up. promote, support, sponsor, advertise, publicize, push, Colloq plug, hype, ballyhoo She has been talking up the book on her radio show
n. 14 oration, lecture, address, presentation, speech, discourse, report, disquisition, dissertation; sermon; harangue, tirade, Colloq spiel Claire delivered a talk on computational linguistics Every week we have to listen to the same talk about sin. 15 conversation, conference, discussion, meeting, consultation, dialogue, colloquy, parley, palaver, chat, tête-à-tête, confabulation, Colloq confab, powwow, Slang chin-wag, head-to-head, US one-on-one, rap session We must have a little talk about your school report 16 subject or topic of conversation or gossip or rumour Her behaviour at the wedding was the talk of the town for weeks 17 gossip, rumour, hearsay, information, news, report, Colloq info, Slang dope There is some talk that you might be leaving 18 palaver, gossip, claptrap, prattle, prattling, chatter, verbiage, cackle, bunk, nonsense, rubbish, balderdash, poppycock, hot air, stuff and nonsense, twaddle, Colloq malarkey, piffle, hooey, hokum, bunkum, bosh, hogwash, horse feathers, Slang bilge(-water), crap, bull, tripe, Brit tosh, balls, US apple-sauce, Taboo slang horseshit, bullshit That's just a lot of talk 19 dialect, speech, way or manner of speaking, façon de parler, language, jargon, argot, cant, patois, accent, Colloq lingo Can you understand musicians' talk? My parents' talk is peppered with words long obsolete in standard English