tone-deaf to others' feelings
- idiom
- Offensive
:
insensible
- Her comments were so tone-deaf to others' feelings that they offended several people.
Examples
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Managers who are tone-deaf to others' feelings often create an unhappy workplace.
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He was completely tone-deaf to others' feelings and didn't notice she was upset.
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He is so tone-deaf to others' feelings!
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Why is she tone-deaf to others' feelings?
-
He was completely tone-deaf to others' feelings and didn't notice she was upset.
-
Managers who are tone-deaf to others' feelings often create an unhappy workplace.
-
Her comments were so tone-deaf to others' feelings that they offended several people.
Synonyms
124
4.6
Not showing care for other people's feelings or needs
14
5.9
Not showing sympathy or care for other people's feelings
7
4.9
Not feeling sorry for someone or caring about their problems
6
7.7
Not aware of other people's feelings or reactions
5
4.9
Showing no care for other people's feelings when speaking or acting
1
9.9
Having no feeling in body or mind and no pity
Being very uncaring about other people's feelings
Antonyms
How Sensitive
30
4.4
488
2.9
- Offensive
10
4.9
41
7.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
tone-deaf + to + others' + feelings
The adjective 'tone-deaf' is compositionally built from 'tone' + 'deaf' (unable to perceive tones), and when combined with 'to others' feelings' the metaphorical extension to social/emotional insensitivity is interpretable from the parts. However, the jump from a literal auditory inability to a figurative lack of emotional awareness is a metaphorical shift that may not be fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Tone-deaf to others' feelings comes from music: someone who is tone-deaf cannot hear or match a musical note, so they miss the sound. Imagine that person in a conversation — they cannot 'hear' other people's feelings, so the phrase means 'unable or unwilling to understand other people's emotions'.