out on a limb
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Without support or isolated.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
They are not sufficient to justify the portrayal of Scotland as being out on a limb from the rest of Britain, either in its voting behaviour or the thinking that produces it.
Well they've got the depot at Rochdale which services up to Blackpool and this was out on a limb.
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 “out on a limb” mean?
Without support or isolated.
Is “out on a limb” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.