1. Home
2. Idioms
3. talk down

talk down

---

---

talk someone down

 

1. to win at debating someone. Liz was able to talk her opponent down. She talked down her opponent.

2. to direct a novice pilot to make a safe landing by giving spoken instructions over the airplane's radio. The people on the ground talked down the amateur pilot successfully. I wonder how many movies have been made about someone talking a pilot down.

3. to convince someone to lower the price of something. The price tag said $2,000 for the car, but I talked down the salesman by threatening to go elsewhere. This is my final offer. Don't try to talk me down.

See also: down, talk

talk down something

also talk something down

to say that something is not very good or important Bonds is doing everything possible to talk down his achievements. I love this town, and I don't like to talk things down, but there are some real problems here that need to be dealt with.

See also: down, talk

talk down

1. Belittle, depreciate, as in They talked down the importance of the move.

2. Silence someone by speaking loudly and persistently, as in They talked down whatever objections she brought up. [Early 1800s]

3. Help an aircraft to land by giving directions via radio, as in The fog was so thick the control tower had to talk us down. [c. 1940]

4. See talk down to.

See also: down, talk

talk down

v.

1. To try to convince others that something is minor or insignificant: The company president talked down the importance of the move. The sales manager talked the changes down so the staff wouldn't worry.

2. To cause the price or value of a particular investment to decrease by talking about it or factors affecting it: The investors talked down the airline's stock price, spreading rumors about the management so that they could purchase the stock at a discount.

3. To persuade someone to reduce an asking price: The customer talked the salesman down to $50 from a list price of $75. I managed to talk down the price of the used car.

4. To speak in an overtly simple manner that betrays a feeling of superiority: The unpopular principal talked down to the students.

5. To silence someone, especially by speaking in a loud and domineering manner: Every time we tried to say anything, they just talked us down. The crowd talked down the speaker.

6. To direct and control the flight of some aircraft or of some pilot during an approach for landing by radioed instructions from either the ground or a nearby aircraft: The control tower talked down the damaged plane. The air controllers talked the shaken pilot down.

See also: down, talk