dig in one's heels

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Refuse to change or compromise one's position

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

từ chối thay đổi hoặc nhượng bộ lập trường của mình

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: plant feet firmly
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She dug in her heels and refused to back down

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 “dig in one's heels” mean?

Refuse to change or compromise one's position Literally: plant feet firmly

Is “dig in one's heels” formal or informal?

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