show pony
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Someone who looks good but lacks real ability
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
người chỉ có vẻ ngoài tốt nhưng thiếu khả năng thực sự
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a pony on display
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He's just a show pony, all talk and no action
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 “show pony” mean?
Someone who looks good but lacks real ability Literally: a pony on display
Is “show pony” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.