tin ear

Definitions

1. 1

   Insensitivity to and inability to appreciate the elements of performed music or the…

   Insensitivity to and inability to appreciate the elements of performed music or the rhythm, elegance, or nuances of language.

   • Despite their careless scholarship and a less tangible quality that some would call a tin ear for poetry, Morris Halle and S. J. Keyser, as metrists, have the considerable virtue of explicitness.
2. 2

   Insensitivity to the nuances of the current situation or the subtleties of a craft

   Insensitivity to the nuances of the current situation or the subtleties of a craft; indifference to somebody else's attitudes, moods, and dialogue.

   • Japan has often displayed a tin ear to South Korean sensitivities over the island, which it calls Takeshima, having acquired it in the process of annexing Korea.
   • With the economy as it is, I think the RMT has a tin ear to think it will find sympathy or public support for strike action. I hope sense prevails,
   • “The tin ear and lack of sensitivity to other people’s needs is fairly characteristic of his party,” Mr. Sirr noted.

The neighborhood

• neighborcloth-eared
• neighbortone-deaf