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