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Business English vocabulary · Phone and Video Calls

Talk over

Meaning in business english, with examples

/ˌtɔːk ˈoʊvər/phrasal verbCommon term

In business english, talk over means: To speak at the same time as someone else so that neither person can be heard clearly; common on calls with a delay.

In Turkish: üst üste konuşmak, aynı anda konuşmak, birinin sesini bastırmak

How it is used

Usually in 'talk over each other' or 'talk over someone': 'Sorry, we're talking over each other. Go ahead.' Talking over someone on purpose is rude, so people apologise and let the other person speak first.

Example sentences

  1. Sorry, we keep talking over each other. Please go first.

  2. With the delay on the line, it's easy to talk over people by accident.

Common collocations

  • talk over each other
  • talk over someone
  • keep talking over
  • sorry, we talked over each other
  • interruptTo stop someone while they are speaking, or to stop an activity for a short time, by saying or doing something.
  • go aheadA short phrase that tells someone they may start speaking or doing something, for example when two people talk at once on a call.
  • muteTo switch off your own microphone, or someone else's, on a call so that the others cannot hear any sound from it.
  • frozenNot moving on a video call because of a bad connection, so the picture stops while the sound or the call may continue.

More terms: Phone and Video Calls

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