to beat hollow
- phrasal verb
:
quedar en ridículo
- Her arguments beat hollow when faced with real evidence.
Examples
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His apology beat hollow and failed to sway anyone in the audience.
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The imitation product beat hollow next to the original.
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Her argument beats hollow when compared to his.
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This proposal beats hollow against the previous one!
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Her arguments beat hollow when faced with real evidence.
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His apology beat hollow and failed to sway anyone in the audience.
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This proposal beat hollow when evaluated against the previous one.
Synonyms
22
5.3
Look less impressive than something else
4
8.2
To sound not sincere or true to people
Clearly worse than someone who is much better at the activity
Antonyms
How Impressive
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a visible connection between 'beat' (to defeat) and 'hollow' (empty/lacking value), so a learner might infer a sense of thorough or crushing defeat, but the verb+adjective collocation 'beat hollow' is somewhat idiomatic and the precise nuance of 'appear clearly inferior / fail to seem convincing' is not fully predictable. The construction is therefore partially transparent but relies on a specialized collocational use of 'hollow' that many B1 learners who simply know the individual words would likely not infer without exposure.
Etymology
The verb beat hollow may come from the image of using beat on something hollow, like hitting an empty drum or box. When you beat something hollow, it makes a thin, empty sound, so an idea or apology that 'beats hollow' feels 'weak' or 'not convincing' next to real evidence.