intr.v. hear·kened, hear·ken·ing, hear·kens Phrasal Verb: Archaic To listen attentively; give heed. hearken back Usage Problem To hark back. [Middle English herknen, from Old English hercnian; see kous- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: Traditionally, hearken means "to listen." The word has an archaic and formal air today, in part stemming from its extensive use in the King James Bible (as in Mark 7:14 "Hearken unto me, every one of you") and in traditional storytelling. In contemporary usage, hearken is more often used where one might expect hark, no doubt because of sound similarity: The movie hearkens back to the sci-fi films of the 1950s. The Usage Panel has mixed feelings about this. In our 2009 survey, just 48 percent accepted this example. |
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