ostrich policy

8.8

To ignore problems instead of trying to fix them

noun
/ˈɑstrɪtʃ ˈpɑlɪsi/

: política de avestruz

The company's ostrich policy led to significant losses last year.

Examples

The country's continued ostrich policy in response to environmental threats drew criticism from experts.
You can't adopt an ostrich policy every time a difficult issue arises.
Management's ostrich policy toward financial problems only made the crisis worse.
Many leaders adopt an ostrich policy instead of addressing issues.
Management's ostrich policy toward financial problems only made the crisis worse.
The country's continued ostrich policy in response to environmental threats drew criticism from experts.
You can't adopt an ostrich policy every time a difficult issue arises.

Synonyms

do-little approach

vsostrich policy

8.2

A way of acting that uses little effort

deliberately denies or ignores problems instead of merely acting little

immobilism

vsostrich policy

9.9

A refusal to make political changes

avoids or denies problems deliberately rather than merely resisting change

Antonyms

confrontation

294 4.5

A situation when people or groups meet in direct conflict, often angrily

acknowledgment

42 4.2

Admitting that something is true

Surface Forms

ostrich policy singular

ostrich policies plural

Morphology

ostrich + policy

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'ostrich' (used metaphorically for someone who ignores unpleasant realities) with 'policy' (a guiding plan), yielding a policy characterized by deliberate ignoring. The underlying metaphor (ostrich burying its head in the sand) is familiar cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The idiom ostrich policy comes from a popular image of an ostrich burying its head in the sand to hide from danger. So, when someone talks about an ostrich policy, they mean a rule or attitude of 'ignoring problems' rather than facing them.