Word.ws English Dictionary

drop a brick

drop a brick verb: to commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned. Also the alternative form of drop a bombshell.

Verb

drop a brick (third-person singular simple present drops a brick, present participle dropping a brick, simple past and past participle dropped a brick)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.
    • It was on one of those Tuesdays that I dropped a brick, the memory of which still haunts me after more than forty years. A very loquacious lady, whom I had never seen before, appeared to be talking through her nose. “Don't you think,” I said to one of my neighbours, by way of starting conversation...1978, Ambroise Vollard, translated by Violet M. MacDonald, Recollections of a Picture Dealer, Dover Publications, published 2003, page 28
    • I remember dropping a brick when I first met her. As she at once started calling me 'Harry' in the way Americans are apt to do, the surname becoming immediately superfluous. I ventured to ask her what her Christian name was.
      ‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’1998, Harry Brewster, A Cosmopolite's Journey: Episodes from a Life, page 216
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, brick.
    • The clumsy builder dropped a brick on his toe.

Also used as

drop a brick is also the alternative form of drop a bombshell.

Forms of drop a brick

third-person singular presentdrops a brick
present participledropping a brick
past participledropped a brick
pastdropped a brick

Questions about drop a brick

What does drop a brick mean?
Drop a brick means to commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.
What part of speech is drop a brick?
Drop a brick is a verb.
What is the past tense of drop a brick?
The past tense of drop a brick is dropped a brick.

Words near drop a brick in the dictionary

  1. droozy
  2. drop
  3. drop a bollock
  4. drop a bomb
  5. drop a bombshell
  6. drop a brick
  7. drop a chalupa
  8. drop a clanger
  9. drop a deuce
  10. drop a dime
  11. drop a dime on someone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drop a brick (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-drop a brick.ogg.

Cite this entry: “drop a brick.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drop_a_brick. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.