# throw the baby out with the bathwater

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To discard, inadvertently or through overzealousness, something valuable or essential ("the baby") in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted or undesirable ("the bathwater").

## Examples

- Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater when you clean your room.
- We need to fix the software bugs, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater by deleting the entire program.
- You should rewrite the confusing parts of your essay, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater by changing your excellent main argument.
- While the committee sought to eliminate bureaucratic waste, they risked throwing the baby out with the bathwater by dismantling the entire department's essential research functions.

## Origin

The phrase entered English in 1849 as a calque of the German proverb *das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten*, translated by Thomas Carlyle in an essay on slavery. The German expression was first recorded in 1512 by Thomas Murner in his satire *Narrenbeschwörung*. It describes the specific misfortune of a person who, having finished washing a child, empties the tub so indiscriminately that the infant follows the waste water out of the window.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.