stone deaf
- idiom
- Specialized
:
sordo
- Despite repeated advice from her friends, she remained stone deaf to their concerns.
Examples
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My grandfather has been stone deaf for years.
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The company was stone deaf to criticism about its new policy.
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He is stone deaf when it comes to constructive feedback.
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He is stone deaf to any criticism.
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Despite repeated advice from her friends, she remained stone deaf to their concerns.
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He is stone deaf when it comes to constructive feedback.
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The company was stone deaf to criticism about its new policy.
Synonyms
212
1.0
Not able to hear, completely or partly
2
8.6
Unable to hear anything at all
2
3.9
Cannot hear at all
Not able to hear anything
Antonyms
How Deaf
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'deaf' keeps its literal meaning (unable to hear) while 'stone' here functions as a metaphorical intensifier meaning 'completely'—so the overall sense 'completely deaf / unwilling to listen' is partially analyzable from the parts. However, using 'stone' as an intensifier is a figurative extension that learners who only know the basic noun sense may not reliably predict without prior exposure, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
The expression stone deaf may come from the image of someone as hard as a stone, because a stone cannot hear or move. That's why calling someone stone deaf gives the strong idea of being 'unable to hear' or 'refusing to listen'.