Word.ws English Dictionary

let the grass grow under one's feet

let the grass grow under one's feet verb: to dally; to fail to make progress.

Verb

let the grass grow under one's feet (third-person singular simple present lets the grass grow under one's feet, present participle letting the grass grow under one's feet, simple past and past participle let the grass grow under one's feet)

  1. (idiomatic) To dally; to fail to make progress.
    • I haven't let the grass grow under my feet. I was wired for at 3:15, reached Yoxley Old Place at 5, conducted my investigation, was back at Charing Cross by the last train, and straighte to you by cab.1904, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
    • Mr. Fiennes repeated his promise to run expresses between Paddington and Cardiff in 2hr. "We're not going to let the grass grow under our feet," he said in a reference to progress with the Severn Road Bridge, and predicted that the 2hr trains would be running "before very long".1964 November, “News: London Cardiff in 2hr?”, in Modern Railways, page 349

Forms of let the grass grow under one's feet

third-person singular presentlets the grass grow under one's feet
present participleletting the grass grow under one's feet
past participlelet the grass grow under one's feet
pastlet the grass grow under one's feet
alternative formlet the grass grow round one's feet

Questions about let the grass grow under one's feet

What does let the grass grow under one's feet mean?
Let the grass grow under one's feet means to dally; to fail to make progress.
What part of speech is let the grass grow under one's feet?
Let the grass grow under one's feet is a verb.
What is the past tense of let the grass grow under one's feet?
The past tense of let the grass grow under one's feet is let the grass grow under one's feet.

Words near let the grass grow under one's feet in the dictionary

  1. let the dice fall where they may
  2. let the dog see the rabbit
  3. let the door hit you where the good Lord split you
  4. let the good times roll
  5. let the grass grow round one's feet
  6. let the grass grow under one's feet
  7. let the matter drop
  8. let the perfect be the enemy of the good
  9. let the sleeping dogs lie
  10. let them eat cake
  11. let there be light

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: let the grass grow under one's feet (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-let the grass grow under one's feet.ogg.

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