"the lady doth protest too much" meaning in English

See the lady doth protest too much in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Etymology: An allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the line is spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. In the play, "protest" is used to mean "insist that what one is saying is true" (in this case, the Player Queen's protestations of love), not "insist that what another is saying is false." Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} the lady doth protest too much
  1. It is suspected that, because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite of what he or she is saying must be true; a hit dog will holler. Synonyms: the lady doth protest too much, methinks, methinks the lady doth protest too much, methinks thou dost protest too much Derived forms: protest too much Translations (because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true): السَّيِّدَة تَعْتَرِضُ أَكْثَر مِن اللَّازِم (alt: as-sayyida(t) taʕtariḍu ʔakṯar min al-lāzim) (Arabic), 此地無銀三百兩 (Chinese Mandarin), 此地无银三百两 (cǐdì wú yín sān bǎi liǎng) (Chinese Mandarin), hän vakuutteli mielestäni liiaksi (Finnish), se koira älähtää, johon kalikka kalahtaa (Finnish), la dame proteste un peu trop (French), rosmas moito culpa tes (Galician), gallina che canta ha fatto l'uovo (Italian), a senhora protesta muito (Portuguese), леди действительно слишком много выступает. (ledi dejstvitelʹno sliškom mnogo vystupajet.) (Russian), la dama protesta mucho (Spanish), yr euog a ffy heb neb yn ei erlid (Welsh)

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the line is spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. In the play, \"protest\" is used to mean \"insist that what one is saying is true\" (in this case, the Player Queen's protestations of love), not \"insist that what another is saying is false.\"",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "the lady doth protest too much",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "kind": "other",
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        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "protest too much"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1897, Samuel Butler, The Authoress of the Odyssey:",
          "text": "In all Penelope's devotion to her husband there is an ever present sense that the lady doth protest too much.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is suspected that, because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite of what he or she is saying must be true; a hit dog will holler."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_lady_doth_protest_too_much-en-phrase-2DSM-J~m",
      "links": [
        [
          "a hit dog will holler",
          "a hit dog will holler"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "the lady doth protest too much, methinks"
        },
        {
          "word": "methinks the lady doth protest too much"
        },
        {
          "word": "methinks thou dost protest too much"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "alt": "as-sayyida(t) taʕtariḍu ʔakṯar min al-lāzim",
          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "السَّيِّدَة تَعْتَرِضُ أَكْثَر مِن اللَّازِم"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "此地無銀三百兩"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "cǐdì wú yín sān bǎi liǎng",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "此地无银三百两"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "hän vakuutteli mielestäni liiaksi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "se koira älähtää, johon kalikka kalahtaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "la dame proteste un peu trop"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "rosmas moito culpa tes"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "gallina che canta ha fatto l'uovo"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "a senhora protesta muito"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "ledi dejstvitelʹno sliškom mnogo vystupajet.",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "леди действительно слишком много выступает."
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "la dama protesta mucho"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
          "word": "yr euog a ffy heb neb yn ei erlid"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the lady doth protest too much"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "protest too much"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "An allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the line is spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. In the play, \"protest\" is used to mean \"insist that what one is saying is true\" (in this case, the Player Queen's protestations of love), not \"insist that what another is saying is false.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "the lady doth protest too much",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms first attested in Shakespeare",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Terms with Arabic translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Galician translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Welsh translations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1897, Samuel Butler, The Authoress of the Odyssey:",
          "text": "In all Penelope's devotion to her husband there is an ever present sense that the lady doth protest too much.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is suspected that, because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite of what he or she is saying must be true; a hit dog will holler."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "a hit dog will holler",
          "a hit dog will holler"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "the lady doth protest too much, methinks"
    },
    {
      "word": "methinks the lady doth protest too much"
    },
    {
      "word": "methinks thou dost protest too much"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "alt": "as-sayyida(t) taʕtariḍu ʔakṯar min al-lāzim",
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "السَّيِّدَة تَعْتَرِضُ أَكْثَر مِن اللَّازِم"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "此地無銀三百兩"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "cǐdì wú yín sān bǎi liǎng",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "此地无银三百两"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "hän vakuutteli mielestäni liiaksi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "se koira älähtää, johon kalikka kalahtaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "la dame proteste un peu trop"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "rosmas moito culpa tes"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "gallina che canta ha fatto l'uovo"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "a senhora protesta muito"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "ledi dejstvitelʹno sliškom mnogo vystupajet.",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "леди действительно слишком много выступает."
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "la dama protesta mucho"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "because someone is insisting too much about something, the opposite must be true",
      "word": "yr euog a ffy heb neb yn ei erlid"
    }
  ],
  "word": "the lady doth protest too much"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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