make a poor fist of
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To do something poorly or ineffectively
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Làm một việc gì đó kém cỏi hoặc không hiệu quả
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: make a weak or inadequate fist
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He made a poor fist of managing the 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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “make a poor fist of” mean?
To do something poorly or ineffectively Literally: make a weak or inadequate fist
Is “make a poor fist of” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.