"deaf" means: Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
deaf
Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.
Seen in the wild
10 citations · last seen May 2026
Seen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
All my flix would have subtitles, and I would put on both a deaf screening and an Audio described hearing a day. For the signed screenings, I'd hire the wonderful Leslie Crerar, an Aberdonian Legend, and pay her doub…
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BlueskyMay 2026
Can a deaf person's brain turn silence into vision? www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
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BlueskyMay 2026
May 5, 2026 the absolutely tone-deaf Congressional GoP are advancing $1B for donOLD's Ballroom, not reforming ICE; donOLD/drunk Pete tried another aggressive action in Hormuz and TACO'd the next day
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BlueskyMay 2026
“BRENDA” Bewildering typography. This is how you address a deaf person, whose stated identity you doubt.
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BlueskyMay 2026
A singing contest and both teams are tone deaf?
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Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.
It's important for TV shows to provide closed captioning for the deaf.
For parents
"deaf" means: Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
For ESL learners
"deaf" means: Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
Heard in the wild
“All my flix would have subtitles, and I would put on both a deaf screening and an Audio described hearing a day. For the signed screenings, I'd hire the wonderful Leslie Crerar, an Aberdonian Legend, and pay her double her worth.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Can a deaf person's brain turn silence into vision? www.eurekalert.org/news-release...”
— Bluesky· May 2026“May 5, 2026 the absolutely tone-deaf Congressional GoP are advancing $1B for donOLD's Ballroom, not reforming ICE; donOLD/drunk Pete tried another aggressive action in Hormuz and TACO'd the next day”
— Bluesky· May 2026““BRENDA” Bewildering typography. This is how you address a deaf person, whose stated identity you doubt.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“A singing contest and both teams are tone deaf?”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
Of or relating to the community of deaf people.
Those people are deaf to reason.
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK
Unable to hear.
My brother has been deaf since sustaining injuries in the war.
Origin: From , deef, from , from , from , from . Cognate with . See also dumb. . Cognate with , , , , , ,. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Heard in the wild
“Running in the shadow of a deeply unpopular incumbent And given the opportunity to put distance between herself and them. She choose to say nothing would change. Hard to imagine a more tone deaf response She deserved to lose”
— Bluesky· May 2026“This is resistance. This is making your voice heard. The people in charge might be tone deaf but the rest of the country sees this and understands there are ways to fight back.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“It’s such a tone-deaf event anyway, but especially this year.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Best stop before it starts being like flogging a deaf horse.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Never did and never will. Ridiculously tone deaf and wasteful; like fiddling while Rome is burning.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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UK
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "deaf" (D)
dead to rightsdead tree editiondead 'undead white European maledead wife montagedeadydeaf adderdeaf aiddeafazdeafiedeafodeagle
Browse all slang words starting with D.