have one's finger on the pulse
have one's finger on the pulse verb: to understand (something) well.
Verb
have one's finger on the pulse (third-person singular simple present has one's finger on the pulse, present participle having one's finger on the pulse, simple past and past participle had one's finger on the pulse)
- To understand (something) well.
- The marketing firm I use has its finger on the consumers' pulse.
- He has his finger on the pulse of his company, and thinks he needs to hire a few more people in sales and get rid of a few from research and development.
Forms of have one's finger on the pulse
| third-person singular present | has one's finger on the pulse |
|---|---|
| present participle | having one's finger on the pulse |
| past participle | had one's finger on the pulse |
| past | had one's finger on the pulse |
| alternative form | have (one's) fingers on the pulse |
Questions about have one's finger on the pulse
- What does have one's finger on the pulse mean?
- Have one's finger on the pulse means to understand (something) well.
- What part of speech is have one's finger on the pulse?
- Have one's finger on the pulse is a verb.
- What is the past tense of have one's finger on the pulse?
- The past tense of have one's finger on the pulse is had one's finger on the pulse.
Words near have one's finger on the pulse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: have one's finger on the pulse (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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