throw out the baby with the bathwater
Discard everything indiscriminately
To throw out the baby with the bathwater is to discard something valuable while getting rid of something unwanted.
The image is of emptying a tub so carelessly that the infant goes with the dirty water.
Used when reforms or changes eliminate good elements along with bad: In restructuring the department, they threw out the baby with the bathwater.
- rejectDismiss as unsuitable
- discardDeliberately throw out
- all or nothingExtreme without compromise
- overreactionDisproportionate emotional response
- knee-jerk reactionInstinctive, unconsidered response
waste · collateral damage · false equivalence · abandon · eliminate · hasty decision · unintended consequences · overgeneralization · dispose · metaphor · impulsivity · misjudgment · missing the point · expel · dismiss · jettison · allegory · nuance
throw out the baby with the bathwaterseparate the wheat from the chaff
Extract what matters
surgical precision · cherry-pick · weed out · refine · curate
throw out the baby with the bathwateriterate
Repeat a process cyclically
tweak · fine-tune · moderation