"modest proposal" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From Jonathan Swift's 1729 satire A Modest Proposal, which suggested cannibalism as a solution to Irish poverty.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "modest proposals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "modest proposal (plural modest proposals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, Alex Massie, “Soak the Old”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "And for all the chuntering about the \"Granny Tax\" it is not as though Osborne made a radical or, if you prefer, modest proposal along the lines of offering tax credits or generous allowances to the heirs of pensioners who plump for voluntary, patriotic euthanasia...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Rory O'Connor, “A modest proposal”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "I therefore have a modest proposal aimed at rectifying this situation: let's declare war!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981 February 15, Art Buchwald, “Firing Away at a Nuclear Solution”, in Los Angeles Times, page 3:",
          "text": "\"I have a modest proposal,\" Alabaster said. \"We need two new examples to demonstrate how awesome nuclear war is, so it will sober up politicians, military men and statesmen, not only here but in the Soviet Union.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest."
      ],
      "id": "en-modest_proposal-en-noun-lS~mwkF4",
      "links": [
        [
          "extreme",
          "extreme"
        ],
        [
          "unorthodox",
          "unorthodox"
        ],
        [
          "distasteful",
          "distasteful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see modest, proposal."
      ],
      "id": "en-modest_proposal-en-noun-xWTcfwLq",
      "links": [
        [
          "modest",
          "modest#English"
        ],
        [
          "proposal",
          "proposal#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Modest Proposal",
    "Jonathan Swift"
  ],
  "word": "modest proposal"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English sarcastic terms",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Jonathan Swift's 1729 satire A Modest Proposal, which suggested cannibalism as a solution to Irish poverty.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "modest proposals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "modest proposal (plural modest proposals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012, Alex Massie, “Soak the Old”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "And for all the chuntering about the \"Granny Tax\" it is not as though Osborne made a radical or, if you prefer, modest proposal along the lines of offering tax credits or generous allowances to the heirs of pensioners who plump for voluntary, patriotic euthanasia...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Rory O'Connor, “A modest proposal”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "I therefore have a modest proposal aimed at rectifying this situation: let's declare war!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981 February 15, Art Buchwald, “Firing Away at a Nuclear Solution”, in Los Angeles Times, page 3:",
          "text": "\"I have a modest proposal,\" Alabaster said. \"We need two new examples to demonstrate how awesome nuclear war is, so it will sober up politicians, military men and statesmen, not only here but in the Soviet Union.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "extreme",
          "extreme"
        ],
        [
          "unorthodox",
          "unorthodox"
        ],
        [
          "distasteful",
          "distasteful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An idea which is especially extreme, unorthodox or distasteful, often put forward in jest."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see modest, proposal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "modest",
          "modest#English"
        ],
        [
          "proposal",
          "proposal#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Modest Proposal",
    "Jonathan Swift"
  ],
  "word": "modest proposal"
}