throw the baby out with the bathwater
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
To discard, especially inadvertently, something valuable while in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
bỏ đi điều gì đó quý giá cùng với điều không mong muốn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The small practitioner has been frightened by the spectre of the JMU into throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
They must face up to the limitations of the Western model — though the baby of Western expertise should not be thrown out with the bathwater of its failings.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review.
Common questions
What does “throw the baby out with the bathwater” mean?
To discard, especially inadvertently, something valuable while in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted.
Is “throw the baby out with the bathwater” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.