at the drop of a hat
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Without any hesitation; instantly.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Stanford could turn you out an impeccable paragraph on any subject you liked to name at the drop of a hat.
You were able to drop all your own commitments at the drop of a hat?’
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “at the drop of a hat” mean?
Without any hesitation; instantly.
Is “at the drop of a hat” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.