English · Idiom Attested

go through the motions

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Do something perfunctorily, without any enthusiasm.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

làm việc gì đó một cách vô cảm, không có hứng thú

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

So I mean, we're just going through the motions at the moment, I mean, quite hone

He shrugged broad shoulders, not even going through the motions of denying her accusation.

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 “go through the motions” mean?

Do something perfunctorily, without any enthusiasm.

Is “go through the motions” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time