Word.ws English Dictionary

modest proposal

modest proposal noun: an idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest.

Noun

modest proposal (plural modest proposals)

  1. (idiomatic) An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest.
    • And for all the chuntering about the "Granny Tax" it is not as though Osborne made a radical or, if you prefer, modest proposal along the lines of offering tax credits or generous allowances to the heirs of pensioners who plump for voluntary, patriotic euthanasia...2012, Alex Massie, “Soak the Old”, in The Spectator
    • I therefore have a modest proposal aimed at rectifying this situation: let's declare war!2006, Rory O'Connor, “A modest proposal”, in The Guardian
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see modest, proposal.

modest proposal meaning in Bengali

modest proposal in Bengali

অপ্রচলিত, বিস্বাদ

Forms of modest proposal

pluralmodest proposals

Origin of modest proposal

From Jonathan Swift's 1729 satire A Modest Proposal, which suggested cannibalism as a solution to Irish poverty.

Questions about modest proposal

What does modest proposal mean?
Modest proposal means an idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest.
What is modest proposal in Bengali?
Modest proposal in Bengali is অপ্রচলিত, বিস্বাদ. See Modest proposal meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is modest proposal?
Modest proposal is a noun.
What is the plural of modest proposal?
The plural of modest proposal is modest proposals.

Words near modest proposal in the dictionary

  1. modes of transport
  2. Modesitt
  3. Modesitts
  4. modest
  5. modest cadlina
  6. modest proposal
  7. modest proposals
  8. Modestan
  9. modester
  10. modestest
  11. modesties

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: modest proposal (page history and authors); modest proposal (Bengali Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-modest proposal.wav.

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