do the trick
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Solves a problem or achieves the desired effect
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
giải quyết vấn đề hoặc đạt được hiệu ứng mong muốn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: perform an action that works
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The diagnosis was almost certain.
The Conservatives also employed the classic advantage of the minority and manoeuvred well, sensibly concentrating on the seats that could best be held or putatively captured.
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. 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 “do the trick” mean?
Solves a problem or achieves the desired effect Literally: perform an action that works
Is “do the trick” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.