by-the-numbers
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Done in a completely routine and unoriginal way
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Được thực hiện một cách hoàn toàn thường xuyên và không sáng tạo
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: following a set of numbers or instructions
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The movie was a by-the-numbers action film
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “by-the-numbers” mean?
Done in a completely routine and unoriginal way Literally: following a set of numbers or instructions
Is “by-the-numbers” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.