back talk
4
7.2
- noun
- /ˈbæk tɔk/
- Informal
:
respuesta desafiante
- You're going to stay with her, and I'm not going to have any more back talk from you now.
- hear back talk
Examples
-
Now I don't want to hear no more back talk.
-
Listen to me, young lady, I don't like a lot of back talk.
-
"No back talk to my parents," he says.
Blog text (25) -
- You watch your back talk, Amber.
-
Don't give me no back talk!
-
Okay, no back talk.
-
You'll be gettin' married right away and I want no back talk about it.
-
But this sort of back-talk never solves anything.
Blog text (26) -
She didn't give me any back talk.
Fiction book (1991) -
Don't give me any back talk when I ask you to clean your room!
Synonyms
797
8.9
Rude talk that shows disrespect
164
8.4
Rude talk used to answer a person in charge
19
7.2
Rude behavior or speech toward someone in authority
16
8.7
Rude, cheeky talk to someone in charge
2
7.7
Rude replies to a person in charge
1
8.6
Replies that are cheeky and rude, often quick and playful
1
8.6
Rude talk that you say back to someone
Antonyms
How Disrespectful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'back' (implying a return/reply) and 'talk' (speech) make it reasonably clear that this denotes a kind of reply, so learners can infer the general idea of responding. However, the specific evaluative sense of impudence or disrespect ('rude replies') is conventionalized and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, making the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
Back talk comes from the image of talk being thrown back at someone in charge, like a child answering a parent with rude words. That's why it means 'disrespectful' or 'rude replies' to authority.