sweet talker
- noun
- /ˈswiːt ˈtɔːkər/
- Informal
- He's a skilled sweet talker, effortlessly charming everyone he meets.
Examples
-
What a sweet talker!
Blog text (16) -
Well, you are a sweet talker, you.
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Quite the sweet talker you are.
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Now, here you go, sweet talker.
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You are such a major sweet talker.
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You always were a sweet talker.
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Oh, aren't you a sweet talker.
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He was a sweet talker.
Fiction book (1998) -
At the meeting, her reputation as a sweet talker helped her win over the skeptical audience.
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Despite his reputation as a sweet talker, she saw through his flattery and remained cautious.
Synonyms
A person who is pleasant and easily makes others like them
A person often a man who acts charming to get what they want
A person who gives fake praise to get someone's favor
A charming confident person who persuades others but does not seem honest
A person who talks in a friendly way to get what they want
A person who uses kind, sweet words to get what they want from others
A person who praises others to get their approval
A person who gently persuades someone with kind words
Antonyms
How Flattering
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'sweet' (pleasant, charming) with 'talker' (someone who talks): it literally describes a person who talks in a sweet or flattering way. This adjective+noun composition is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the basic sense (though the finer nuance of insincerity may require exposure).
Etymology
The noun sweet talker comes from a simple image: a person uses sweet words like candy—the talker makes their speech taste pleasant to others. One popular idea is that this 'sweet' speech hides real aims, so the phrase means 'someone who flatters or tries to persuade with not honest talk'.