English Explanatory Dictionary

ostrich politics

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A style of politics that evades rather than addresses problems; ostrichism.

Word forms

ostrich politics

Etymology

From ostrich + politics, calque of German Vogel-Strauß-Politik. Named after the common misconception that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when confronted with danger. First attested in the late 19th century.

Related words

ostrich policy bury one's head in the sand head in the sand
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on O Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary