like talking to a wall

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: like talking to a brick wall · like speaking to a brick wall · like speaking to a wall

Meaning · English

Speaking to someone who is unresponsive or unwilling to listen.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

nói với người không phản ứng hoặc không muốn nghe

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: talking to an inanimate object
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

I tried to explain it to him, but it was like talking to a wall.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “like talking to a wall” mean?

Speaking to someone who is unresponsive or unwilling to listen. Literally: talking to an inanimate object

Is “like talking to a wall” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.