better left unsaid

better left unsaid

This phrase emphasizes that something should not be mentioned, usually because it is offensive, inappropriate, or problematic. Yeah, your romantic feelings for the groom are definitely better left unsaid! I hope you know that sexist comments like that are better left unsaid.
See also: better, left
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

better left unsaid

[refers to a topic that] should not be discussed; [refers to a thought that] everyone is thinking, but would cause difficulty if talked about in public. (A typical beginning for this phrase might be It is, That is, The details are, or even Some things are. See the examples.) Mary: I really don't know how to tell you this. Bob: Then don't. Maybe it's better left unsaid. Bill: I had such a terrible fight with Sally last night. I can't believe what I said. Bob: I don't need to hear all about it. Some things are better left unsaid.
See also: better, left
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • here we go again
  • in the wrong place at the wrong time
  • according to Gunter
  • word to the wise
  • word to the wise, a
  • a word to the wise
  • life is for living
  • and a half
  • talk through the back of (one's) neck
  • business is business
References in periodicals archive
Some things are better left unsaid, or at the very least should come with a warning notice such as one sees on television prior to shows that contain "images that may be disturbing to the viewer." On Feb.
Recollecting how her colourful past landed her in a soup, corporate lawyer Devika Mullick says certain things are better left unsaid. Mullick's honest admission about her affairs to her fiance not only cancelled her engagement, it also forced her to part ways with her parents.
Good reasons why the groaning about Smith's selection decisions would have been better left unsaid.
I admit that, when she told me, I exploded and maybe I said things that were better left unsaid.
He led a colorful life, the intimate details of which are better left unsaid.
In this economy, if your part-time work is in no way interfering with your full-time employment, some things are better left unsaid. If your part-time endeavor is not affecting your full-time employment, chances are, even if your employer discovered your outside business interest, it would not make a huge impact on how you are perceived at work.
It's better left unsaid who they were, but some of the ones who came from abroad were not scrutinised as well as domestic ones.
Some things are better left unsaid -- unknown, even.
CATCH him in a reflective moment, and he'll admit there are some things that would have been better left unsaid. Only some things, mind.
The question is - would this all have been better left unsaid.
We are in a delicate position if we want to maintain" even our precarious standing, but this is better left unsaid, "our ability to meet our designated responsibilities" approved by the 37 per cent of you who attended the annual congregational meeting, but this is also better left unsaid.
SOME things are better left unsaid. Like claiming the Premiership title before a ball of any description has been kicked.
Some things are better left unsaid. Then again, sometimes it's only right to speak out in support of the underdog.
Schooler of the University of Pittsburgh, who directed the studies, dubbed this effect "verbal overshadowing of visual memories." His paper's subtitle put it more bluntly: "Some things are better left unsaid."
"ISN'T THERE SOMEONE around who loves this author more than anything, someone he loves and trusts in return, who could sit down with him and tell him what's good, even wonderful, in this farrago of bits and pieces, and what is lightweight, plain silly stuff and better left unsaid, or in the notebooks?" This question is asked by Raymond Carver in a review of Richard Brautigan's Tokyo-Montana Express.