fall on deaf ears

present singular third person falls on deaf ears · participle present falling on deaf ears · past fell on deaf ears · participle past fallen on deaf ears

1. figurativelyintransitiveTo be ignored.

   Every time I ask him to do something for me, it falls on deaf ears.

   2 more examples

   Then there's the sad fact that for many, this place is all they know. It's home. Soooo, conversation relating to living beyond the walls falls on deaf ears sometimes.

   1984 August 18, Eronel, “Women In Cages”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 6

   My earlier warnings, both in RAIL and in an article I wrote for The Times, have not fallen on deaf ears. There are many people (I suspect most) in the [rail] industry who recognise that telling people not to use their trains will cause lasting damage, but they are silenced publicly because they are now taking the Government's shilling.

   2020 June 17, Christian Wolmar, “The strategy of 'don't use the railways' must be reversed...”, in Rail, page 44

   Synonyms: go in one ear and out the other