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Glite Dictionary
to talk to a brick wall

to talk to a brick wall

1 7.0
To try to speak to someone who will not listen or answer
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hablar con una pared
  • Every time I try to explain my feelings, it feels like I'm talking to a brick wall.

Examples

  • Oh, why am I talking to a brick wall?

    Closer to the Moon (2014)

  • Trying to get through to them is like talking to a brick wall.

    Get on the Bus (1996)

  • He refused to acknowledge my concerns, so it was just like talking to a brick wall.

  • When I suggested changes, she ignored my input, making the conversation feel like talking to a brick wall.

Synonyms

to talk to a wall
vsto talk to a brick wall
  • Informal
2 8.1

To speak to someone who does not respond or listen

is a stronger, more vivid image for the same unresponsive communication

Antonyms

to hear
∞ 1.0

Get news or messages from someone

How Responsive

to talk
∞ 1.0
to talk to a brick wall
  • Informal
1 7.0

Surface Forms

talk to a brick wall infinitive
talked to a brick wall past
talked to a brick wall past participle
talking to a brick wall present participle
talks to a brick wall third person singular

Morphology

talk + to + a + brick + wall

The meaning is directly inferable from combining 'talk' (to speak) with the image of a 'brick wall' as an unresponsive barrier — a speaker who receives no reply. This concrete metaphor (wall = obstacle/non‑listener) is common across languages and follows an obvious compositional logic that a B1 learner who knows the words can readily understand.

Etymology

The idiom talk to a brick wall comes from the simple image of someone speaking to a hard, silent brick wall that gives no answer. So the phrase is used when you try to speak to someone who 'refuses to listen'.