kick the habit
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
To stop engaging in a habitual practice.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
I'm trying to kick the habit.’
Sobered by recession, Americans are kicking the plastic - debt habit.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Imported from Wikipedia “English-language idioms” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29), pending review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “kick the habit” mean?
To stop engaging in a habitual practice.
Is “kick the habit” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.