Beat a Dead Horse.
English
idiom
Waste effort on hopeless and unchangeable things, or continue discussing a matter that has already been concluded or resolved.
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Waste effort on hopeless and unchangeable things, or continue discussing a matter that has already been concluded or resolved.
Trusted by1.5M+English learners & teachers worldwide
To keep talking about or trying to fix something that is already finished or beyond help.
When you beat a dead horse, you waste time and energy on something that is already over and won't change.
It's used when someone refuses to let go of a topic or argument that has no chance of making a difference.
"Flogging a Dead Horse"
—
Trying hopelessly to revive something already finished (British variant, same meaning)
"Going in Circles"
—
Repeating the same discussion without making any real progress
"Beat a Dead Horse"
—
Wasting time on something already over or beyond saving
Should we revisit the old pricing model one more time in this meeting?
I think we'd be beating a dead horse — the team settled on this approach last quarter.
Can we go over what happened at the party one more time?
We've talked about it three times — we're beating a dead horse at this point.
He keeps trying to convince me to change my mind about the move.
He's beating a dead horse — you've made yourself very clear.
