Cast Pearls Before Swine
“Cast pearls before swine” describes offering something valuable or worthwhile to a person or audience that does not recognize or appreciate its value. The phrase can sound judgmental when applied directly to people.
It means offering something valuable to someone who does not appreciate its worth.
Key details
Further guidance
Contextual Examples
He felt that explaining the rare manuscripts to a mocking audience was casting pearls before swine.
In professional disagreement, “the audience did not value the detail” is usually safer and more precise.
History Boundary
The modern meaning is published without claiming an exact inventor, coinage date, or absolute first use.
Meaning
The idiom refers to offering something valuable, good, or worthwhile to someone who does not appreciate its value.
Meaning Boundary
The phrase concerns lack of appreciation, not merely refusal or inability to use something.
Practical Use
Use “cast pearls before swine” for offering something valuable to people who do not appreciate or recognize its value.
Tone Boundary
It is vivid and can sound contemptuous because it compares people with swine; avoid it when that insult would be inappropriate.
Usage Boundary
Because the expression can sound contemptuous toward the person being described, use it carefully in direct interpersonal or professional contexts.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- cast pearls before swine — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Current meaning of cast pearls before swine