Talk out, talk out of, talk out loud

The transitive phrasal verb ‘to talk out’ is used in two ways.

It may mean ‘to block the approval (of a proposed law or policy) by making long speeches (in a legislative body)’ – as in ‘A determined group of MPs talked the bill out’ or ‘The bill was talked out by a determined group of MPs’. This use of the expression ‘to talk out’ is confined to British English. (For a verb with a similar meaning see Filibuster.)

It may also mean ‘to solve, resolve, or remove by talking’ as in ‘They talked out their differences’ or ‘We talked out the problem’. Note that when ‘to talk out’ is used in this way the object does not come between the verb and the adverb, unless it is a pronoun: thus if they talked out their differences, we must say ‘They talked them out’.

Do not confuse the phrasal verbs ‘to talk out’ and ‘to talk out of’. To talk (someone) out of (doing something) is to dissuade them from (doing something), i.e., to persuade them not (to do something) – as in ‘We talked him out of having another drink: he had drunk far too much already’ or ‘I was talked out of applying for the job: they said I had no chance of being appointed’. The opposite of ‘to talk out of’ is ‘to talk into’ – as in ‘They talked me into applying for the job’ and ‘I was talked into applying for the job: they said I was certain to be appointed’.

Be careful not to misuse the expression ‘to talk out loud’: it does not mean the same as ‘to talk in a loud voice’ or ‘to talk loudly’. It is used of a person who speaks audibly in circumstances in which, for one reason or another, they might be expected not to speak at all. E.g., a person who talks in their sleep may be said to talk out loud (even though they may be speaking very quietly), as may someone who inadvertently expresses their thoughts audibly in circumstances in which they might be expected to keep their thoughts to themselves. The opposite of ‘out loud’ is ‘silently’; reading out loud, e.g., contrasts with reading silently, not with reading audibly but quietly.