Dictionary

fall on deaf ears en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (figuratively, intransitive) To be ignored.
   • Then there's the sad fact that for many, this place is all they know. It's home. Soooo, conversation relating to living beyond the walls falls on deaf ears sometimes. 1984 August 18, Eronel, “Women In Cages”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 6:
   • My earlier warnings, both in RAIL and in an article I wrote for The Times, have not fallen on deaf ears. There are many people (I suspect most) in the [rail] industry who recognise that telling people not to use their trains will cause lasting damage, but they are silenced publicly because they are now taking the Government's shilling. 2020 June 17, Christian Wolmar, “The strategy of 'don't use the railways' must be reversed...”, in Rail, page 44:
   • Every time I ask him to do something for me, it falls on deaf ears.

Forms

Relateds

turn a deaf ear · preach to deaf ears

Synonyms

go in one ear and out the other

Translations (16)

de auf taube Ohren stoßen (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · hu süket fülekre talál (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · it non trovare ascolto (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · pt cair em saco roto (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · pl trafić w próżnię (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · te చెవిటివాని ముందు శంఖమూదినట్లు (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · es caer en saco roto (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · it essere ignorato (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · it fare orecchie da mercante (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · he נָפַל עַל אֹזְנַיִם עֲרֵלוֹת (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · nl aan dovemansoren gericht zijn (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · fi kaikua kuuroille korville (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · no falle på døve ører (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · pl trafiać w próżnię (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · it cadere nel vuoto (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored) · fr tomber dans l'oreille d'un sourd (of a request, complaint, etc, to be ignored)