English Reference

Idiom

protest too much

Meaning

To insist so passionately about something that people suspect the opposite of what one is saying.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“He protests too much about not liking her.”

“She keeps claiming she does not want the promotion, but she protests too much.”

“By insisting so vehemently that he had no interest in the inheritance, he only convinced the family that he protested too much.”

Examples

simple

“He protests too much about not liking her.”

contextual

“She keeps claiming she does not want the promotion, but she protests too much.”

complex

“By insisting so vehemently that he had no interest in the inheritance, he only convinced the family that he protested too much.”

Origin

Shortened from the lady doth protest too much.

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference