- talk
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 a conversationADJECTIVE▪ brief, little (often ironic), short▪
I will have to have a little talk with that young lady (= tell her that I disapprove of sth).
▪ good, long, serious▪ heart-to-heartVERB + TALK▪ haveTALK + NOUN▪ show (esp. AmE)▪ radio (esp. AmE)PREPOSITION▪ talk about▪I enjoyed our talk about the old days.
▪ talk with▪I need to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.
2 talkingADJECTIVE▪ excited▪There was excited talk of emigrating to America.
▪ crazy (esp. AmE), wild▪There is wild talk of her breaking the world record soon.
▪ careless (esp. BrE), idle, loose▪ fighting (BrE), tough▪ war▪The US authorities have increased the war talk.
▪ straight▪She likes straight talk and hates hypocrites.
▪ double▪The president's true agenda was hidden in political double talk.
▪ open▪There is open talk of a leadership challenge.
▪ public▪There has been much public talk about bilingual education.
▪ dirty▪the crusade against dirty talk on TV
▪ trash (= a way of talking intended to insult sb and make them feel less confident) (AmE, informal)▪ sweet (= trying to persuade sb to do sth by praising them and telling them things they like to hear)▪ cheap, empty, mere▪The chairman's boasts about future profits were just cheap talk.
▪ big, fancy (esp. AmE), fine (ironic)▪What all the fine talk came down to was hard cash.
▪ baby▪I never used baby talk to my little girl.
▪ girl▪We can have some girl talk until Joe gets here.
▪ pillow▪the pillow talk of lovers
▪ shop▪Don't you get enough shop talk at work?
VERB + TALK▪ hear▪You often hear talk of the north-south divide.
TALK + VERB▪ turn to sth▪Talk turned to money and tempers began to fray.
PREPOSITION▪ talk about/of▪All this talk of the boss resigning is nonsense!
PHRASES▪ be all talk▪He's all talk. He's too scared to do anything.
▪ be just talk▪‘You think it's just talk?’ ‘No, I think it's true.’
▪ for all the talk of sth▪For all their talk of equality, the boys ended up not doing any cooking.
▪ (to exchange/make) small talk (= to talk politely about unimportant things)▪He was never very good at making small talk with her parents.
3 (also talks) discussions between official groupsADJECTIVE▪ lengthy (esp. BrE)▪ high-level, top-level▪ informal▪ formal, official▪ private, secret▪ direct, face-to-face▪ wide-ranging▪ all-party (BrE), etc.▪all-party talks in Northern Ireland
▪ bilateral, multilateral, round-table (esp. BrE)▪ global (esp. AmE)▪ fresh (esp. BrE), further▪ crisis, emergency, urgent (all esp. BrE)▪ exploratory (esp. BrE), preliminary▪ political▪ arms (esp. BrE), peace▪ merger, pay (BrE), trade… OF TALKS▪ round▪A further round of talks is expected in March.
VERB + TALK▪ conduct, have, hold▪The two governments held secret talks on the nuclear threat.
▪ broker, host▪ attend, enter▪ begin, initiate, open, start▪ continue▪ break off, pull out of, walk out of▪The union has broken off talks with the management.
▪ cancel, end, suspend▪ reopen, restart, resumeTALK + VERB▪ be scheduled▪Talks were scheduled for Rome the following month.
▪ take place▪The peace talks will take place in Cairo.
▪ begin, open (esp. BrE), start▪ end▪ continue, go on▪ resume▪ be aimed at sth, be designed to (esp. BrE)▪the latest round of talks aimed at ending the civil war
▪ centre/center on sth, concentrate on sth, cover sth, deal with sth, focus on sth▪The talks centred on bilateral trade.
▪ produce sth▪Talks produced agreement on an end to the occupation.
▪ be deadlocked (esp. BrE), break down, collapse, fail, founder (esp. BrE), stall (esp. BrE)▪The talks remain deadlocked over spending plans.
▪The talks foundered on the issue of compensation.
PREPOSITION▪ during talk▪The agreement was concluded during talks in Beijing.
▪ in talk▪He is currently in talks with two football clubs.
▪ talk about, talk on, talk over▪Talks are being held over the political future of the province.
▪ talk between▪the failure of talks between the two communities
▪ talk with▪The delegation arrived for talks with their government.
4 lectureADJECTIVE▪ entertaining (esp. BrE), informative (esp. BrE), interesting▪ introductory (esp. BrE)▪ brief, short▪ chalk (AmE), motivational, pep, team (esp. BrE)▪ radio, television, TV▪ illustrated (BrE)▪She gave an illustrated talk on Roman architecture.
VERB + TALK▪ deliver, give, present▪ begin▪ end▪Let me end my talk with a prediction.
▪ attend, go toTALK + VERB▪ be entitled sth, be titled sth (esp. AmE)▪She gave a very entertaining talk entitled ‘My life and hard times’.
PREPOSITION▪ talk about, talk on▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}Did you go to the talk on Peru?
verbADVERB▪ loudly▪ quietly, softly▪ at length▪ constantly, continuously, endlessly, incessantly, non-stop▪ briefly▪ candidly, freely, openly▪She talked quite freely about her work.
▪ privately, publicly▪ exclusively▪Bruce Springsteen has agreed to talk exclusively to our reporter about his life.
▪ directly▪I think you'd better talk directly to my manager.
▪ animatedly, enthusiastically, excitedly▪ specifically▪ vaguely▪He had talked vaguely of going to work in Japan.
▪ casually▪ politely▪ earnestly, seriously▪a group of students talking earnestly
▪ sensibly▪Let's talk sensibly about this.
▪ wildlyVERB + TALK▪ be able to, can▪I can't talk about it just now.
▪ need to, want to▪I need to talk to you.
▪ begin to▪ be easy to▪He was so easy to talk to.
▪ be difficult to, be hard to▪ hear sb, listen to sb, overhear sb▪I loved to hear him talk about the old days.
▪ make sb▪The police questioned him for four hours, trying to make him talk.
▪ let sb▪Just shut up and let me talk for a minute.
PREPOSITION▪ about▪All they talk about is clothes.
▪ of (formal)▪We often talked of the war.
▪Talking of Joe, I met his new boyfriend last week. (BrE)
▪ to▪I'll talk to Mario this afternoon.
▪ with▪I've talked with him on the telephone.
PHRASES▪ start talking, stop talking▪ talk a good game (AmE)▪The senior managers talk a good game about customer relations (= they say the right things), but really they don't care about the customer.
▪ talk the talk (esp. AmE)▪You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk (= can you do what you say)?
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
