you can't polish a turd
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Something inherently bad or flawed cannot be improved
Literally: polishing a turd
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new management tried to rebrand the failing product, but you can't polish a turd
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 “you can't polish a turd” mean?
Something inherently bad or flawed cannot be improved Literally: polishing a turd
Is “you can't polish a turd” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.