fall on deaf ears

Idioms  

1. Be ignored or disregarded, as in Any advice we give them about remodeling seems to fall on deaf ears. This expression transfers physical inability to hear to someone who does not want to listen. [1400s] Also see turn a deaf ear.

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Example Sentences

In 2023, at age 86, Holtz questioned the toughness of coach Ryan Day’s Ohio State football team—a statement that didn’t fall on deaf ears.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

Protestations that big spending is justified by Amazon’s fastest growth rate in its cloud-computing unit for the past 13 quarters looked set to fall on deaf ears judging by the initial stock market reaction.

From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026

You have already made up your mind, so this response may fall on deaf ears.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 10, 2025

Fans in India, though, have often seen that plea fall on deaf ears.

From BBC • Jan. 15, 2025

Their pitiful petitions for aid fall on deaf ears, for at Manila, self interest rules, and trade is the syren of the hour, not religion.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century. by Blair, Emma Helen