turn a deaf ear
turn a deaf ear
Meaning
- choose not to hear
- refuse to listen
- to ignore what someone says
Example Sentences
- Please do not just turn a deaf ear to their cries for help.
- It was too cheap when Sarah turned a deaf ear to our insistence.
- The Bank tended to turn a deaf ear to ATM card lost complaints.
- When I asked Michael to go with me for help – he just turned a deaf ear.
- How can you turn a deaf ear to the crying victims of an accident?
- The police turned a deaf ear to all the pleas made by the girl’s family.
- The novelist has not turned a deaf ear to the criticisms.
- The current administration has turned a deaf ear to the majority.
- The customer had turned a deaf ear to the pending payments.
- I cannot turn a deaf ear to my family problems.
Origin
The idiomatic expression dated from the first half of the 1400s and was in most proverb collections from 1546 on.
Last update:
Share your opinions1 Opinion
Dan O. here
i thot ‘turn a deaf ear’ could also apply to a person avoiding unwanted opinion, when that avoider happened to be deaf in only one ear, thus, turning deaf side toward speaker sends a message:
‘I won’t/can’t hear you!’
‒ Anonymous March 22, 2020