Word.ws English Dictionary

cast pearls before swine

cast pearls before swine verb: to give things of value to those who will not understand or appreciate them.

Verb

cast pearls before swine (third-person singular simple present casts pearls before swine, present participle casting pearls before swine, simple past and past participle cast pearls before swine)

  1. (idiomatic) To give things of value to those who will not understand or appreciate them.
    • Blanche: ...Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession. But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart—and I have all of those things—aren't taken away, but grow! Increase with the years! How strange that I should be called a destitute woman! When I have all...1947, Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 10

cast pearls before swine meaning in Malay

cast pearls before swine in Malay

to cast pearls before swine
kera diberi bunga

Synonyms of cast pearls before swine

Forms of cast pearls before swine

third-person singular presentcasts pearls before swine
present participlecasting pearls before swine
past participlecast pearls before swine
pastcast pearls before swine

Origin of cast pearls before swine

From the Bible: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." – KJV, Matthew 7:6.

Words formed from cast pearls before swine

Questions about cast pearls before swine

What does cast pearls before swine mean?
Cast pearls before swine means to give things of value to those who will not understand or appreciate them.
What is cast pearls before swine in Malay?
Cast pearls before swine in Malay is kera diberi bunga. See Cast pearls before swine meaning in Malay.
What part of speech is cast pearls before swine?
Cast pearls before swine is a verb.
What is the past tense of cast pearls before swine?
The past tense of cast pearls before swine is cast pearls before swine.

Words near cast pearls before swine in the dictionary

  1. cast one's vote
  2. cast out
  3. cast out nines
  4. cast out the Devil with Beelzebub
  5. cast over
  6. cast pearls before swine
  7. cast round
  8. cast snowballs
  9. cast someone's water
  10. cast steel
  11. cast steels

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cast pearls before swine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-cast pearls before swine.ogg.

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