get the ball rolling
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to start something or take the first step in a process
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
bắt đầu một điều gì đó hoặc thực hiện bước đầu tiên trong một quá trình
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to roll a ball, initiating motion
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The manager's speech got the ball rolling on the new project
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 “get the ball rolling” mean?
to start something or take the first step in a process Literally: to roll a ball, initiating motion
Is “get the ball rolling” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.