polish a turd
polish a turd verb: to work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad.
Verb
polish a turd (third-person singular simple present polishes a turd, present participle polishing a turd, simple past and past participle polished a turd)
- To work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad.
- Near-synonym: put lipstick on a pig
- Demaso, trying hard to scrub a wall behind one of the toilets, started complaining how dirty the walls in the entire bathroom were. Tripp also chimed in that they were polishing a turd and that what the bathroom needed was a fresh coat of paint.2006, Michael Fak, Portions of a Life: Recollections and Reflections, page 197
- Synonyms:
- put lipstick on a pig
Synonyms of polish a turd
Forms of polish a turd
| third-person singular present | polishes a turd |
|---|---|
| present participle | polishing a turd |
| past participle | polished a turd |
| past | polished a turd |
Questions about polish a turd
- What does polish a turd mean?
- Polish a turd means to work on a time-consuming and ultimately pointless or impossible task; to try to perfect what is inherently bad.
- What part of speech is polish a turd?
- Polish a turd is a verb.
- What is the past tense of polish a turd?
- The past tense of polish a turd is polished a turd.
Words near polish a turd in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: polish a turd (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-polish a turd.ogg.
Cite this entry: “polish a turd.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/polish_a_turd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.