Word.ws English Dictionary

learnt the ropes

learnt the ropes is the simple past and past participle 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

Forms of learnt the ropes

alternative formlearned the ropes

Questions about learnt the ropes

What is learnt the ropes the simple past and past participle of?
Learnt the ropes is the simple past and past participle of learn the ropes.

Words near learnt the ropes in the dictionary

  1. learnt Chinese
  2. learnt from experience
  3. learnt one's lesson
  4. learnt one's place
  5. learnt the hard way
  6. learnt the ropes
  7. learnt to walk before one could run
  8. learny
  9. learnyng
  10. Learnys
  11. learnèd

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: learnt 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.

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