preach to deaf ears
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To advise or try to persuade someone who refuses to listen
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Tư vấn hoặc cố thuyết phục người không chịu nghe
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: talking to people who cannot hear
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She complained about the noise, but it was preaching to deaf ears
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 “preach to deaf ears” mean?
To advise or try to persuade someone who refuses to listen Literally: talking to people who cannot hear
Is “preach to deaf ears” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.