turn a deaf ear

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

turn a deaf ear (third-person singular simple present turns a deaf ear, present participle turning a deaf ear, simple past and past participle turned a deaf ear)

1. (figuratively) To refuse to listen to. [with to ‘someone/something’]

   They turned a deaf ear to her entreaties.

   • 1986 December 14, Jeffrey Ruda, quoting Ron Gray, “Sacramento Holds On To Lesbian/Gay Rights”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 22, page 2:

     This really confirms that Sacramentans turn a deaf ear to efforts to legislate bigotry and homophobia. Sacramento ought to take a lot of pride in looking at their community as one that tolerates diversity.

Translations

to refuse to listen or hear something

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 充耳不聞／充耳不闻 (zh) (chōng'ěrbùwén)

• Finnish: kaikua kuuroille korville (fi) (subject is the thing that is ignored or disregarded)
• French: faire la sourde oreille (fr)
• Galician: facerse o xordo
• German: (gegenüber etwas) sich taub stellen
• Hungarian: a füle botját sem mozdítja (hu)
• Icelandic: láta sem vind um eyru þjóta, láta eins og vind um eyru þjóta (is), daufheyrast við, skella skolleyrum við
• Italian: fare orecchi da mercante
• Japanese: 聞く耳を持たぬ (きくみみをもたぬ, kiku mimi o motanu)
• Maori: tetērongo, whakatuturi, whātuturi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vende det døve øret til (no)

• Polish: puszczać mimo uszu impf, puścić mimo uszu pf
• Russian: пропуска́ть ми́мо уше́й (ru) (propuskátʹ mímo ušéj), пропусти́ть ми́мо уше́й (ru) (propustítʹ mímo ušéj, literally “to let go past one's ears”)
• Spanish: hacerse el sordo, hacer oídos sordos
• Swedish: slå dövörat till (sv)

See also

• fall on deaf ears
• preach to deaf ears
• turn a blind eye

Further reading

• “turn a deaf ear to something” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “turn a deaf ear”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “turn a deaf ear”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.