English · Idiom Candidate

toothpaste is out of the tube

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A decision or action cannot be undone

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một quyết định hoặc hành động không thể thay đổi

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: toothpaste that has been squeezed out

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Now that the news is public, the toothpaste is out of the tube

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 “toothpaste is out of the tube” mean?

A decision or action cannot be undone Literally: toothpaste that has been squeezed out

Is “toothpaste is out of the tube” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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