Word.ws English Dictionary

throw the baby out with the bathwater

UK/θɹəʊ ðə ˈbeɪbi aʊt wɪð ðə ˈbɑːθwɔːtə(ɹ)/US/θɹoʊ ðə ˈbeɪbi aʊt wɪθ ðə ˈbæθwɔtɚ/

throw the baby out with the bathwater verb: to discard, inadvertently or through overzealousness, something valuable or essential ("the baby") in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted or undesirable ("the bathwater").

Verb

throw the baby out with the bathwater (third-person singular simple present throws the baby out with the bathwater, present participle throwing the baby out with the bathwater, simple past threw the baby out with the bathwater, past participle thrown the baby out with the bathwater)

  1. (idiomatic) To discard, inadvertently or through overzealousness, something valuable or essential ("the baby") in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted or undesirable ("the bathwater").
    • They cancelled the entire project because the new management didn't like the prototype, but I think they threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Forms of throw the baby out with the bathwater

third-person singular presentthrows the baby out with the bathwater
present participlethrowing the baby out with the bathwater
pastthrew the baby out with the bathwater
past participlethrown the baby out with the bathwater
alternative formthrow the baby out with the bath water
alternative formthrow out the baby with the bathwater
alternative formthrow out the baby with the bath water

Origin of throw the baby out with the bathwater

Calque of German das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten, a proverb first recorded by Thomas Murner in his satire Narrenbeschwörung (1512). First appeared in English when Thomas Carlyle translated it in an essay on slavery (1849).

Questions about throw the baby out with the bathwater

What does throw the baby out with the bathwater mean?
Throw the baby out with the bathwater means to discard, inadvertently or through overzealousness, something valuable or essential ("the baby") in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted or undesirable ("the bathwater").
What part of speech is throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Throw the baby out with the bathwater is a verb.
How do you pronounce throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Throw the baby out with the bathwater is pronounced /θɹəʊ ðə ˈbeɪbi aʊt wɪð ðə ˈbɑːθwɔːtə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the past tense of throw the baby out with the bathwater?
The past tense of throw the baby out with the bathwater is threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Words near throw the baby out with the bathwater in the dictionary

  1. throw spaghetti at the wall
  2. throw stones
  3. throw stones in a glass house
  4. throw tantrums
  5. throw the baby out with the bath water
  6. throw the baby out with the bathwater
  7. throw the book at
  8. throw the bull
  9. throw the bull around
  10. throw the handkerchief
  11. throw the hatchet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throw the baby out with the bathwater (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-throw the baby out with the bathwater.ogg.

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