Idiom:  talk down to someone

Meaning 

Idiom:  talk down to someone

  • to speak to someone as if they are not intelligent or inferior


Example sentences

— Don’t talk down to them just because they’re high school students or they’ll hate your speech.

— My doctor talked down to me at the first appointment but was respectful when my father came with me to my second visit.

— She's a stereotypical rich person who talks down to the help.

— Why do you talk down to the administrative staff? No wonder they are demoralized.

— Remember how Stan used to talk down to all of us when he was class president?

— I loved working for Dr. Johnson. She never talked down to anyone.

— Okay, I'm sorry I still don't understand your point. Can't you try to explain it a different way instead of talking down to me?

— Why would you talk down to him knowing that he has dyslexia? That's simply cruel.

— You're talking down to your assistant again. Please take this as constructive criticism rather than immediately being defensive.

— I'm tired of politicians only talking down to each other rather than debating the issues.

— You can talk down to me all you want but scoring higher on an exam doesn't make you better than me.


Synonyms

  • look down on
  • put down
  • look down your nose at
  • treat like a child


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