Questions tagged [phrase-requests]
This tag is for questions seeking a phrase or an expression that fits a meaning. If you're specifically seeking only a single word, see the "single word requests" tag too.
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Is there a phrase for when you "bite the bullet" on a logical consequence but maintain that it's not a "bullet" at all?
Opponents of a view often attempt to draw outrageous logical consequences from the view in order to discredit it: if p leads to something as outrageous as q, then that just shows that p is false. ...
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How to better describe a good-riddance farewell?
How would you say, "It was a good-riddance farewell", better?
I am writing of a man leaving a dirty jail cell and is more than happy to be leaving.
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How to refer to waves/charges/offensives in a battle?
I want to find a term to complete this sentence:
Enemy morale fell after the second _______ was carried out.
Maybe a better way to understand what I'm after is imagine we break up the army into ...
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What is an English equivalent of 'Colorín, Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado,' a phrase used at the end of stories?
Colorín, Colorado, este cuento se ha acabado is a Spanish phrase used to indicate that a story has reached its end. The first part is just nonsense, the second part means 'this story is over.'
We use ...
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Is there a common phrase for 'too casual' in critiquing writing or essays?
In Dutch, teachers commonly use the phrase "spreektaal", literally translated "spoken language" to denote a turn of phrase or sentence that, in the context of the assignment, is ...
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What's the best description for this game-piece placement?
I have a game in which pieces normally get tiled in an arrangement like this (which can be shortened or extended arbitrarily):
But in special circumstances a piece may be permitted to be placed in ...
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"Told you!", but non-gender-neutral
There is a Russian comedy playback show, and I am trying to translate several funny fragments of it.
There is a married couple. The wife dislikes the friends of the family and is annoyed by them, but ...
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Is there a single word to describe a 'student of life'? [duplicate]
I'm looking for a word that describes somebody who is always learning and interested in acquiring more knowledge. A word that encapsulates 'knowledge seeker', 'student of life', 'avid learner'. I'm ...
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Is there a succinct term for "adequate at many things, good at a handful"? [duplicate]
The phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" would refer to someone who is consistently adequate. The term "polymath" implies someone who has reached a high level in many areas ...
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Is there a word for a person who can recognize valuable items that can be sold for much more than the current price?
We go to thrift stores & yard sales a lot. My 15-year-old has a knack for instantly recognizing items that are very valuable, and she's been doing it since she was 8. She found an original drawing ...
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Is there a word for a person playfully pretending to believe an equally playful obvious lie? [duplicate]
Imagine I tell someone "you know, my music playing is so advanced, but so advanced, that I play the piano with my two hands on my back!" — and the person nods with feigned belief as if ...
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Word for manipulating paper notes in hand
I'm looking for a word or phrase that would describe the action of holding a large number of paper notes in one hand and using the thumb or other fingers of the other hand to "flick through" ...
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Is there a word or phrase for someone that is propped up as the bad example of something, even though others are guilty the same? [duplicate]
I was planning on using whipping boy but it seems that means more like a scapegoat (ie someone who is innocent but made to take the blame for others). Moreover, I want something that means that ...
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A word/phrase for the top student of the class
Throughout elementary school, I was always one of the best students, or simply the very best student, in the classroom. That is, I always had the highest scores in my exams. In other words, I
was a ———...
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What is a word or phrase similar to "sold out" that I can use for a free event which requires prior registration?
The context that I intended to use the phrase was along the lines of:
The registration page no longer works because the workshop is [insert the phrase or word here].
The workshop was free so I was ...
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What is that suburban commercial area off the highway called?
What is that suburban commercial un-walkable McDonald’s-stuffed area that you would find off the side of a highway called?
Here’s the best image I could find:
I pass by them and go through them all ...
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A word to describe a person who loves anything related to celebrities/gossips/trends and is easily affected by them
I'd like to know a word to describe a person who loves celebrities, gossips, trends or anything that is popular and is
easily affected by them.
She said she had moved to Paris because she loved "...
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Is there a phrase that describes a problem that becomes more and more complicated the further you investigate/look into it? [duplicate]
I'm looking for a phrase that describes a problem whose complexity starts to increase exponentially, either because the problem is recursive, the definitions/conditions of the problem interlink with ...
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What's similar to "over-engineered" but used in context of communication, like saying something overly complicated for the sake of "professionalism"?
Title says it all:
What's a word or phrase similar to "over-engineered" but used in the context of communication, like saying something overly complicated for the sake of "...
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"Don't rock the boat" attitude [duplicate]
When someone tends to hesitate to acknowledge a problem and avoid involving trouble even if needed, is it ok to say in a negative nuance that
He/She always has a "don't rock the boat" ...
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A word for upper bounding a mathematical expression that turns out not to be tight enough to be of use
In my own native tongue (Hebrew) when I have some mathematical expression that is complicated and I try to upper bound it with a simpler expression but then I find out that the gap between the two is ...
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Is there a word/phrase to call someone who hoards knowledge or information?
Knowledge hoarder and information hoarder refers to a person who keeps knowledge/information only for themselves,I am looking for a term that can be used to a person who gathers knowledge/information,...
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An idiom or term that pertains to defending and praising popular people just because they are successful and respected?
In Australia, we use the expression Tall poppy syndrome for a "social phenomenon that occurs when someone's success causes them to be envied, resented, criticized or discredited."
https://en....
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A word/phrase for something that often comes up in conversations
To find a affordable apartment was a big problem. University students would often
struggle to find a place to live. As I recall, that
was a —————— (= popular topic of our conversations = we always ...
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Is there an accepted term for this style of management?
There are terms for different management styles—for example seagull management, mushroom management, and micromanagement. What I am looking for is a term that describes management which changes well-...
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What do you call it when someone demands too many citations?
There's a debate tactic where one side repeats "you need citations" for even the most basic facts. What's a way to describe this behavior?
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Is there term for a list which is an example of itself? (similar to autological for a single word)
I have a bulleted list which describes how to write an effective bulleted list, and is itself an example of all the tips in the list.
Terms in this area that I have found so far are:
autological / ...
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What is the term for saying something out loud that you wish for [duplicate]
I remember there is a term/saying for accidentally speaking something out loud about what you secretly wish for. For example: you like someone, but you aren't awared of it, but then accidentally say ...
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What do you call a smug response whose intention is primarily to make the responder look clever?
At one time or another, you've probably inquired about something (perhaps online) and been met with the curt or critical response. It's meant to showcase their cleverness. It's more of a concealed ...
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Proverb or expression about a talent being ignored or unnoticed
In one of his songs, Eminem says:
It ain't too late to finally see what you closed-minded f**ks were too blind to see.
Whoever finds me is gonna get a finder's fee
I'm looking for a proverb about ...
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Idiom for two people who seem vastly different from the outside but actually share many similarities
I'm searching for an idiom or common phrase that describes 2 people who seem vastly different (different upbringings, social status, etc.) on the outside, but actually have more in common than first ...
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Expression that denotes impossibility in a succeeding clause [duplicate]
I’m looking for an idiom or phrase that describes the impossibility/ludicrousness of something by comparing it to the near or full impossibility/ludicrousness of its lesser degree in a succeeding ...
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I need a word for a Noun that has only one function or use [duplicate]
Let's say that an AI was created to toast bread. That is its only function, and only use. How would I describe such a thing in one word?
For instance: Like a _____, it executed its task.
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Is there a phrase that means "too important"?
I'm having trouble finding a good phrasing to describe a component of a system that is too important -- in a sense that it distracts a person from all the other components, that should have been, or ...
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What is a word or phrase for student of the year? [closed]
I’m looking for a word/phrase similar to student of the year. I’m not using valedictorian, as I think it means student who has highest academic grade. I want to mean something that would mean like ...
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Is there a term to describe indirect/higher-order decision-making or guessing?
I’m referring to situations where you might make a guess or decision based on factors not directly applicable to the situation, such as context. For example, if you were guessing a multiple choice ...
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Expression for the awkward situation when you see an acquaintance and debate whether to acknowledge their presence
Is there any expression in English that refers to the situation when someone who is just an acquaintance (not a close friend) happens to be present around you at a social gathering (be it at a house ...
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How to avoid using the word "corresponding" in a casual chat?
For instance, I want to say this:
If I connect hardware 1 and hardware 2, can I still access them separately through their corresponding network ports?
But the word corresponding seems too formal ...
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Word for an intentionally high bid on a job
When you're soliciting bids for a project, it's not unusual to get two bids that are fairly close and one that's way way higher. That company doesn't really want the job, but will happily take the ...
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Breaking the Wittgenstein limit: is there a term for the practice of keep asking your interlocutor to "further define" aspects of their statement? [duplicate]
In common parlance, we say "s/he pretends s/he doesn't understand", for people who ignore the context of the conversation and require hyper-specific definitions to keep the conversation ...
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A way of saying "cognitive style" that emphasizes when it is neither a choice nor learned
EDIT: There has been some confusion about this question. @alphabet1 in the comments got it: I'm asking for an alternative to the phrase "cognitive style" without the word "style." ...
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What would be a neutral phrase to use to refer to someone who yearns for their life to have a coherent narrative?
As stated in the title, is there a word or phrase that could concisely express this sentiment, or refer to the concept of this type of belief/hope. Romanticist almost fits in my mind, but this word ...
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"Literary inquisition" or "speech crime" Or is there a better term?
The wiki said it is Literary Inquisition
It refers to official persecution of intellectuals for their writings in China ...
the rulers deliberately extracted words or phrases from intellectual's ...
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Phrase similar to "polishing a turd" but less negative
I have on the tip of my tongue some phrase that captures part of the meanings “polishing a turd”, “feature creep”, and “tits on a boarhog” but I can't quite recall it.
The phrase I'm looking for is—...
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A phrase/idiom/expression to say that a problem is not new? [closed]
The problem of budget deficit has recently raised serious objections.
That is not a new problem, though.
I am looking for other phrases or idioms to say that something is not new, or not a new ...
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Correct term for a “distraction car”
I’m looking for the term used to indicate a car when it is used to “distract” possible ill-intentioned people from committing a crime.
For instance when a President (or an important politician) ...
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Word for something (rule, law, etc) that is bad for or overly punitive towards poor people?
I find myself constantly trying to talk about laws, rules, regulations, etc that I find to be bad for or overly punitive towards poor people, but I can't think of a word to describe it. For instance, ...
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Can "it reads: " be followed by large amount of text? [duplicate]
There's no such rules in dictionaries, but when someone uses "it reads: xxx", it's usually something short, for instance a sign, a tooltip, or a notice.
Can I use it to introduce longer text?...
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How to say that something is not a matter of order?
In its attempts agains depopulation, the government issues new
rules to encourage people to have more child. But childbearing is
not —————— .
I want to say that childbearing is not a matter of order, ...
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What is another way to say "the problems that led to it"?
What is another way to say "the problems that led to it"? As in,
Provides overview of the case, participants, background, and problems
that led to it. Arguments for the plaintiff and ...
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