closed one's ears
Refused to hear
To close one's ears is to refuse to listen or consider something—to deliberately ignore information, advice, or appeals.
The phrase suggests willful disregard rather than inability to hear: She closed her ears to his excuses.
You might close your ears to criticism, warnings, or pleas for help.
The past tense appears most often because the refusal is typically reported after the fact.
- stonewallingDeliberately refusing to respond
- earplugsInsertable sound blockers
- willful ignorancePurposely remaining uninformed
- head in the sandDeliberate avoidance of reality
- denialRefusal to accept reality
turning away · talk to the hand · stubbornness · resistance · dismissiveness · rationalization · selective attention · mental block · tuning out · la la la · blocking out · tunnel vision · conflict avoidance · avoidance behavior · ignoring · miscommunication · passive-aggressiveness · cognitive dissonance
closed one's earslistened
Perceived sound intentionally
lent an ear · paid attention · heeded · tuned in · attended to
close, closed, closes, closing, closure, closable, unclosed, enclose, enclosed