English · Idiom Candidate

bright young thing

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

All bright young things, on their way up, or looking as if they were, with their murderers and their mercenaries and their adulterers.

All a pretty far cry from 30 Northfield Road, Hull, where a nanny was a goat, a boarding school a threat, and a bright young thing something who'd probably just passed their eleven plus.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.

Common questions

What does “bright young thing” mean?

Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.

Is “bright young thing” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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