throw caution to the wind
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Be reckless.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The two of us threw caution to the winds and raced to the rescue.
Jaguar and Nissan, as if to celebrate the swansong of their turbocars, threw caution to the winds, and took the fight to Mercedes - Benz with devil - may - care enthusiasm.
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: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “throw caution to the wind” mean?
Be reckless.
Is “throw caution to the wind” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.