talk is cheap
- idiom
- Informal
:
hablar es fácil
- You keep making promises, but talk is cheap if you don't follow through.
Yeah, I think talk is cheap, man.
- Yeah, I think talk is cheap, man.
Examples
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When it comes to helping others, talk is cheap—it's your actions that count.
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She always says she'll change, but we all know talk is cheap.
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Remember, talk is cheap!
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For Sarah, talk is cheap; she prefers action.
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When it comes to helping others, talk is cheap—it's your actions that count.
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You keep making promises, but talk is cheap if you don't follow through.
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She always says she'll change, but we all know talk is cheap.
Synonyms
20
3.9
Something that looks easy but is hard to do
A person who says they will do things but never does them
What someone does shows who they really are more than what they say
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal composition 'talk' + 'is' + 'cheap' easily conveys that speaking has low cost or low value, so a learner who knows the words can infer a negative evaluation of mere words. However, the full proverbial sense — that saying you will do something is less important than actually doing it — is a figurative, cultural extension and not completely predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Talk is cheap comes from the simple image that talk costs nothing, like something that is cheap, while actually doing the work takes time and effort. So when people say talk is cheap, they mean 'it is easy to say you will do something' and that 'actions' matter more than words.