Idiom
modest proposal
Meaning
An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He made a modest proposal to sell all the furniture to pay rent.”
“The politician offered a modest proposal to solve the budget crisis by taxing every single breath taken in public.”
“In a satirical essay, the author presented a modest proposal that suggested solving poverty by consuming the children of the poor.”
Examples
simple
“He made a modest proposal to sell all the furniture to pay rent.”
contextual
“The politician offered a modest proposal to solve the budget crisis by taxing every single breath taken in public.”
complex
“In a satirical essay, the author presented a modest proposal that suggested solving poverty by consuming the children of the poor.”
Origin
From Jonathan Swift's 1729 satire A Modest Proposal, which suggested cannibalism as a solution to Irish poverty.
Key words
- Updated