Word.ws English Dictionary

learns the ropes

learns the ropes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of learn the ropes.

Meaning of learn the ropes

Verb

learn the ropes (third-person singular simple present learns the ropes, present participle learning the ropes, simple past and past participle learned the ropes or learnt the ropes)

  1. (informal) To learn the basics or master introductory knowledge.
    • Work slowly and cautiously until you have learned the ropes.
  2. (informal) To learn some skill requiring specialist knowledge.
    • While it is unlikely that [Lonny] Baxter plays a significant role immediately, he will be able to learn the ropes of interior play from such veterans as [Dikembe] Mutumbo, Yao [Ming], and [Juwan] Howard.2005, “2005–2006 Houston Rockets Season Preview”, in National Basketball Association, archived from the original on 01 May 2008

Questions about learns the ropes

What is learns the ropes the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Learns the ropes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of learn the ropes.

Words near learns the ropes in the dictionary

  1. learns Chinese
  2. learns from experience
  3. learns one's lesson
  4. learns one's place
  5. learns the hard way
  6. learns the ropes
  7. learns to walk before one can run
  8. learnset
  9. learnsets
  10. learnt
  11. learnt Chinese

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: learns the ropes (page history and authors); learn the ropes (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “learns the ropes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/learns_the_ropes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.