scratch the surface
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To barely begin to understand or deal with a problem or issue
Literally: to scratch the top layer of something
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
‘ While partnerships are part of our industry's culture, we were not even scratching the surface of the benefits that could come from taking traditional relationships many steps further,’ he said.
The subject turned out to be vast and in one year I barely scratched the surface!
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. 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 “scratch the surface” mean?
To barely begin to understand or deal with a problem or issue Literally: to scratch the top layer of something
Is “scratch the surface” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.