Deaf

• POS: Adjective

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Deaf, adj.
1 wholly or partly without hearing (deaf in one ear).
2 (foll. by to) refusing to listen or comply.
3 insensitive to harmony, rhythm, etc. (tone-deaf).

Idiom

deaf-aid Brit. a hearing-aid. deaf-and-dumb alphabet (or language etc.) = sign language

Usage

Sign language is preferred in official use. deaf as a post completely deaf. deaf mute a deaf and dumb person. fall on deaf ears be ignored. turn a deaf ear (usu. foll. by to) be unresponsive.

Derivative

deafly adv. deafness n.

Etymology

OE deaf f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Deaf

authoritarian, bigot, bigoted, blind, borne, bullheaded, closed, constricted, cramped, creedbound, deaf and dumb, deaf to reason, deaf-eared, deaf-mute, deafened, dogmatic, dull-eared, earless, fanatical, hard of hearing, headstrong, heedless, hidebound, illiberal, impervious, indifferent, insensible, insensitive, insular, intractable, little, little-minded, mean, mean-minded, mean-spirited, mulish, narrow, narrow-hearted, narrow-minded, narrow-souled, narrow-spirited, nearsighted, oblivious, parochial, pertinacious, perverse, petty, pigheaded, positive, preoccupied, provincial, purblind, self-willed, shortsighted, small, small-minded, stone-deaf, straitlaced, stubborn, stuffy, stunned, surd, thick of hearing, tone-deaf, uncatholic, uncharitable, unconcerned, unconscious, ungenerous, unhearing, unheedful, unliberal, unmoved, unpersuadable, unresponsive, unyielding, word-deaf

ROGET THESAURUS

Deaf

Deafness

N deafness, hardness of hearing, surdity, inaudibility, inaudibleness, deaf, earless, surd, hard of hearing, dull of hearing, deaf-mute, stunned, deafened, stone deaf, deaf as a post, deaf as an adder, deaf as a beetle, deaf as a trunkmaker, inaudible, out of hearing, hear no evil, (6) Light (i) LIGHT IN GENERAL.

Inattention

N inattention, inconsideration, inconsiderateness, oversight, inadvertence, inadvertency, nonobservance, disregard, supineness, etourderie, want of thought, heedlessness, insouciance, abstraction, absence of mind, absorption of mind, preoccupation, distraction, reverie, brown study, deep musing, fit of abstraction, inattentive, unobservant, unmindful, heedless, unthinking, unheeding, undiscerning, inadvertent, mindless, regardless, respectless, listless, blind, deaf, bird-witted, hand over head, cursory, percursory, giddy-brained, scatter-brained, hare-brained, unreflective, unreflecting, ecervele, offhand, dizzy, muzzy, brainsick, giddy, giddy as a goose, wild, harum-scarum, rantipole, highflying, heedless, careless, inconsiderate, thoughtless, absent, abstracted, distrait, absentminded, lost, lost in thought, wrapped in thought, rapt, in the clouds, bemused, dreaming on other things, musing on other things, preoccupied, engrossed, daydreaming, in a reverie, off one's guard, napping, dreamy, caught napping, disconcerted, distracted, put out, inattentively, inadvertently, absent-mindedly, per incuriam, sub silentio, Int, stand at ease, stand easy!, the attention wanders, one's wits gone a woolgathering, one's wits gone a bird's nesting, it never entered into one's head, the mind running on other things, one's thoughts being elsewhere, had it been a bear it would have bitten you.