stone-deaf

[ stohn-def ]
See synonyms for stone-deaf on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. totally deaf.

Origin of stone-deaf

1
First recorded in 1830–40; stone + deaf

Words Nearby stone-deaf

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stone-deaf in a sentence

  • When the tubes were being fixed into the three apertures he perceived that he had become suddenly stone deaf.

    Black Diamonds | Mr Jkai
  • Gradually the horrible truth dawned upon me—I was stone deaf!

  • Are you stone deaf, that all their pretty speeches have been wasted on you?

    Heart | Martin Farquhar Tupper
  • When I spoke to the old woman, she told me that she was stone deaf.

  • The woman is nearly stone-deaf, and could not hear a word of the evidence.

    London's Heart | B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

British Dictionary definitions for stone-deaf

stone-deaf

adjective
  1. completely deaf

usage For stone-deaf

Use of this word to refer to people with serious hearing difficulties is potentially very offensive: preferred form: profoundly deaf

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with stone-deaf

stone-deaf

Totally unable to hear, as in Poor Grandpa, in the last year he's become stone deaf. [First half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.