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water off a duck's back

water off a duck's back noun: something potentially harmful or hurtful, such as criticism or insult, that nevertheless has no effect or impact on the target.

Noun

water off a duck's back (uncountable)

  1. Something potentially harmful or hurtful, such as criticism or insult, that nevertheless has no effect or impact on the target.
    • She's always going on at him about something, but to him it's all water off a duck's back.

Origin of water off a duck's back

From the idea that water rolls easily off a duck's back and does not penetrate the duck's feathers.

Questions about water off a duck's back

What does water off a duck's back mean?
Water off a duck's back means something potentially harmful or hurtful, such as criticism or insult, that nevertheless has no effect or impact on the target.
What part of speech is water off a duck's back?
Water off a duck's back is a noun.

Words near water off a duck's back in the dictionary

  1. water of crystallisation
  2. water of crystallization
  3. water of hydration
  4. water of life
  5. water off a duck
  6. water off a duck's back
  7. water on the brain
  8. water on the chest
  9. water on the knee
  10. water opossum
  11. water opossums

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: water off a duck's back (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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