empty talk
1
4.3
- noun
:
palabrería vacía
- And a little bit later there, you know, he says this is all just empty talk that we're doing.
And a little bit later there, you know, he says this is all just empty talk that we're doing.
- And a little bit later there, you know, he says this is all just empty talk that we're doing.
Examples
-
Our options would be empty talk or sending in the marines.
Academic text (1999) -
After the meeting, many agreed that his suggestions were merely empty talk and lacked any practical value.
-
And what we're learning is there is a reason for this empty talk that she gives.
-
And what we're learning is there is a reason for this empty talk that she gives.
-
That this isn't empty talk.
Blog text (5) -
The committee's promises turned out to be nothing more than empty talk without any real action.
-
Critics argued that the government's new initiatives were just empty talk designed to gain public approval.
Synonyms
578
2.5
Words or ideas that do not make sense
265
7.0
Words that sound impressive but have little real meaning
102
3.1
Words or writing that have no value
48
7.5
Talk that is not true or is silly
28
7.7
A remark used so often that it sounds dull and gives no new idea
24
8.6
Empty showy talk with little real meaning
18
7.9
A long talk that tries to convince people to buy something
17
5.3
Talk that sounds important but has no real meaning
17
7.2
Loud talk that tries to impress but has little real effect
13
8.8
Talk that is not true and tries to trick people
5
9.3
Words or ideas that sound important but have little real meaning
5
8.7
Silly talk about unimportant things
3
5.1
Talk that has no real meaning and is not useful
2
8.8
A lot of talk that sounds important but says nothing
1
9.9
Talk that is false and meant to fool or impress people
1
5.8
Casual talk about small, unimportant things, often gossip
1
9.6
Talk that tries to trick people with false statements
1
9.9
Long, silly talk that has no useful meaning
1
6.0
Things people say that are completely untrue or pointless
1
9.9
Talk that is false and not worth listening to
1
8.0
Words that people say but do not mean
1
9.9
Talk that brags and makes things sound bigger than they are
1
9.9
Worthless or silly talk that has no useful ideas
1
9.9
Talk that has no useful information
Speech that sounds important but has no real action
Words or ideas that are complete nonsense and worthless
Continuous trivial talk that says nothing important
Talk that brags and sounds false
A dull conversation with little energy or interest
Antonyms
How Insincere
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'speech that lacks real value or substance' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'empty' (lacking meaning or sincerity) with 'talk' (speech). This simple adjective+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary English semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Empty talk comes from the simple image of the word empty and the word talk: like a hollow box or a balloon that makes noise but has nothing inside. So Empty talk means speech that sounds big but has 'no real meaning or action'.