Talk down to
2 meanings · select one to explore
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Meaning 1 of 3
Definition
To speak to someone in a condescending way
Example sentence
He talks down to his employees.
Real video usage
Three clips showing this meaning in natural speech.
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Common collocations
Natural word pairings to memorize.
talk down to someone
talk down to your employees
talk down to your coworkers
talk down to children
talk down to customers
talk down to people who know less than you
Separable usage
Can the object split the verb? Compare correct vs incorrect.
She talked down to the students. ✅ (Correct)
She talked the students down to. ❌ (Incorrect)