beggar belief

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English

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Verb

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beggar belief (third-person singular simple present beggars belief, present participle beggaring belief, simple past and past participle beggared belief)

  1. (intransitive, chiefly UK) To appear implausible or unbelievable.
    Synonym: beggar description
    It beggars belief to suppose that corporate policies can always pursue the best interests of a company.
    • 1907, Sidney Lee, Shakespeare and the Modern Stage[1]:
      In Shakespeare's day boys or men took the part of women, and how characters like Lady Macbeth and Desdemona were adequately rendered by youths beggars belief.
    • 2021 November 17, “Network News: Anger at delegates' preferential treatment for Glasgow smartcards”, in RAIL, number 944, page 13:
      "It beggars belief that delegates are given smartcards for free travel around the city, yet ordinary Glaswegians will still be forced to use a disjointed ticketing system."
    • 2022 September 23, 0:07 from the start, in As Putin goes for broke: What next after Ukraine annexation referendums? • FRANCE 24 English[2], spoken by François Picard, France 24, archived from the original on 27 September 2022:
      [] We'll ask about turnout numbers that already beggar belief and what happens after Vladimir Putin's Friday address scheduled before a joint session of the Russian parliament.

Translations

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Further reading

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