waste of breath
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Something said that has no effect or is ignored
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
điều gì đó được nói nhưng không có hiệu quả hoặc bị bỏ qua
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: exhalation of air with no purpose
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Trying to convince him was a waste of breath
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 “waste of breath” mean?
Something said that has no effect or is ignored Literally: exhalation of air with no purpose
Is “waste of breath” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.