to judge a book by its cover
9
4.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
juzgar un libro por su portada
- Try not to judge a book by its cover.
- never judge a book by its cover
- One should judge a book by its cover
And that's why you can't judge a book by its cover.
- And that's why you can't judge a book by its cover.
- When I went on OkCupid, I told myself, like, I wasn't going to judge a book by its cover.
- So never judge a book by it's cover is is my point.
- But it's it's it's mad of what people don't ever judge a book by it's cover, but listen back to it.
Examples
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Now you see, you should never judge a book by its cover.
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Don't ever judge a book by its cover.
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You forgot one thing: Never judge a book by its cover.
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Never judge a book by its cover.
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Never judge a book by its cover.
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One should never judge a book by its cover.
Fiction book (1990) -
The point is, don't judge a book by its cover.
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You mustn't judge a book by its cover.
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Don't judge a book by its cover.
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It's important to remember that you should judge a book by its cover; people can often surprise you.
Synonyms
11
6.7
To form an opinion about a person or situation before you know all the facts
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
judge + a + book + by + its + cover
The components 'judge', 'book' and 'cover' plus the preposition 'by' create a clear, literal mapping: forming a judgment about a book based on its cover. This metaphorical comparison is direct and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer it refers to forming an opinion from outward appearance.
Etymology
The idiom judge a book by its cover comes from the simple image of someone picking a book because of its bright cover instead of opening the book. So it means 'to form an opinion only from someone's or something's looks'.