Meaning & use
beating a dead horse
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformalfigurative
Wasting effort on a topic or plan that is already settled or hopeless, so that more work cannot change anything.
Grammar: Often used with be or keep: you are beating a dead horse. The verb changes form: beat, beating.
Patterns
- be beating a dead horse
- stop beating a dead horse
The committee already voted, so arguing again is just beating a dead horse.
I think I'm beating a dead horse, but I still want to say it one more time.
Stop beating a dead horse; the decision is final.
Word forms
| third person singular | beats a dead horse |
|---|---|
| past tense | beat a dead horse |
| past participle | beaten a dead horse |
| -ing form | beating a dead horse |
Common combinations
- stop beating a dead horse
- Let's stop beating a dead horse and move on.
- keep beating a dead horse
- He kept beating a dead horse about the old contract.
- feel like beating a dead horse
- I feel like I'm beating a dead horse with this request.
- accuse someone of beating a dead horse
- They accused her of beating a dead horse on the budget.
- beating a dead horse here
- I may be beating a dead horse here, but the deadline is real.
Synonyms and how they differ
- flogging a dead horse
- This is the British form of the same idiom and means exactly the same.
- belaboring the point
- Belaboring the point means explaining something at excessive length, whereas beating a dead horse also says that nothing can change.
- spinning your wheels
- Spinning your wheels is about busy effort that gets nowhere, not about reviving a settled issue.
- rehashing
- Rehashing means going over old matter again, but it does not necessarily imply that the effort is hopeless.
Word family
- beat verb
- to hit repeatedly, the root verb in the idiom
- dead horse noun
- an issue that is hopeless or finished
- flog a dead horse verb
- the British variant of the idiom
- beating noun
- the act of hitting, or a defeat
Commonly confused: beating a dead horse or beat around the bush?
beating a dead horse vs beat around the bush
To beat around the bush is to avoid getting to the point, while beating a dead horse is to keep pursuing a point that is finished.
Practice
Maria says, 'I know I'm beating a dead horse, but...' What does she admit?
Choose one answer.
The idiom means dwelling on a settled or hopeless matter. Avoiding the topic is the meaning of the different idiom beating around the bush.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “beating a dead horse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.