stone-deaf

American  

[stohn-def] / ˈstoʊnˈdɛf /

adjective

1. totally deaf.

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stone-deaf British  

adjective

1. completely deaf

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stone deaf Idioms  

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

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Usage

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

Etymology

Origin of stone-deaf

First recorded in 1830–40; stone + deaf

Example Sentences

In stone-deaf Lady Strickland's Maltese garden a land mine blew the tail feathers off her prize peacock, blew Lady Strickland off her feet.

From Time Magazine Archive

Engineer Tran Chan Cha, 46, has steamed the Danang-Hue run since the days of the Indo-China war, has been blown up so often that today he is nearly stone-deaf.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her dam, Home by Dark, had never raced and was stone-deaf to boot.

From Time Magazine Archive

Nearing 83, he is stone-deaf, inclined to doze off in the middle of important conversations.

From Time Magazine Archive

And our translation has this merit, that some of our ultra-moderns will listen to the word 'psychology,' where they would be bat-blind to 'Characters' and stone-deaf to 'Sentiments.'

From Aspects of Literature by Murry, J. Middleton