Word.ws English Dictionary

ostrich policy

ostrich policy noun: the tendency to ignore obvious problems and pretend they do not exist; ostrichism.

Noun

ostrich policy (plural ostrich policies)

  1. (idiomatic) The tendency to ignore obvious problems and pretend they do not exist; ostrichism.

Forms of ostrich policy

pluralostrich policies

Origin of ostrich policy

From ostrich + policy. Referring to the common misconception that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they notice danger. Perhaps a calque, compare ostrich politics.

Questions about ostrich policy

What does ostrich policy mean?
Ostrich policy means the tendency to ignore obvious problems and pretend they do not exist; ostrichism.
What part of speech is ostrich policy?
Ostrich policy is a noun.
What is the plural of ostrich policy?
The plural of ostrich policy is ostrich policies.

Words near ostrich policy in the dictionary

  1. ostrich fern
  2. ostrich ferns
  3. ostrich instruction
  4. ostrich instructions
  5. ostrich policies
  6. ostrich policy
  7. ostrich politics
  8. ostrich-like
  9. ostriches
  10. ostrichism
  11. ostrichitis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ostrich policy (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: En-au-ostrich policy.ogg.

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