get off the ground
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Start happening.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
New York and Dallas both failed to get off the ground, either financially or politically.
We could have an interesting separate debate about the role of sponsorship, but we accept that, if any sport in this country is to get off the ground, such sponsorship is a mandatory part of the scene.
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. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “get off the ground” mean?
Start happening.
Is “get off the ground” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.