Word.ws English Dictionary

throws the baby out with the bathwater

throws the baby out with the bathwater is the third-person singular simple present indicative of throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Meaning of throw the baby out with 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.

Questions about throws the baby out with the bathwater

What is throws the baby out with the bathwater the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Throws the baby out with the bathwater is the third-person singular simple present indicative of throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throws the baby out with the bathwater (page history and authors); 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.

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