1
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Phrase(s): down-to-earth
1. Fig. direct, frank, and honest. • You can depend on Ann. She’s very down-to-earth. • It’s good that she’s down-to-earth and will give us a frank response. 2. Fig. practical; not theoretical; not fanciful. • Her ideas for the boutique are always very down-to-earth. • The committee’s plans for the village are anything but down-toearth.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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Back to reality. For example, It's time the employees were brought down to earth concerning the budget. P.G. Wodehouse had this idiom in Very Good, Jeeves! (1930): "I had for some little time been living . . . in another world. I now came down to earth with a bang." [Late 1920s] 2. Also, down-toearth. Realistic or interested in everyday occurrences, as in She is a very down-to-earth person, not at all involved with the glamour of Hollywood. [1930s]
American Heritage Idioms