waste breath

waste breath

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

waste breath (third-person singular simple present wastes breath, present participle wasting breath, simple past and past participle wasted breath)

1. (idiomatic) To speak in a manner which is needless or futile; in discussion or argument to make points which are not appreciated or heeded.
   • 1827, James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie, ch. 24:

     Middleton and Paul saw no use in wasting their breath in remonstrances against this proposal.

   • 1906, John Kendrick Bangs, R. Holmes & Co., ch. 1:

     Why waste breath saying self-evident things?

   • 2009, "Akshay jealous of Sanjay's tattoos?," Times of India, 19 May (retrieved 14 June 2009):

     "Please don't waste your breath asking me ridiculous questions," he says.

Usage notes

• Frequently used with a possessive adjective: waste my / your / his / her / our / their breath.

Translations

to speak futilely

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: դատարկ խոսել (datark xosel) Catalan: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 白說／白说 (zh) (báishuō) Czech: please add this translation if you can Dutch: please add this translation if you can Finnish: puhua joutavia French: perdre sa salive, gaspiller sa salive German: Atem verschwenden Hindi: please add this translation if you can Icelandic: eyða orku, eyða orku í Italian: sprecar fiato Japanese: please add this translation if you can Korean: please add this translation if you can Polish: szkoda słów Portuguese: gastar saliva Russian: говори́ть на ве́тер (govorítʹ na véter) Spanish: gastar saliva Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• like talking to a wall