lift a finger
lift a finger verb: to make minimal effort; to help as little as possible.
Verb
lift a finger (third-person singular simple present lifts a finger, present participle lifting a finger, simple past and past participle lifted a finger)
- To make minimal effort; to help as little as possible.
- She lets me do all the work and never lifts a finger to help.
- They weep when they see the country being so much exploited and yet nobody lifts a finger.1973, Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard): June 12 - July 27, page 904
- Synonyms:
- move a finger, raise a finger, stir a finger
- To take actual retaliatory or punitive action, as opposed to just complaining.
- I think living conditions need to get a lot worse before voters start to lift a finger.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lift, finger.
- So if your next note involves lifting a finger, you need to plan to lift the finger promptly to above its spot on the string so that it's ready to play again at any time.2010, Katharine Rapoport, Violin For Dummies
Synonyms of lift a finger
Forms of lift a finger
| third-person singular present | lifts a finger |
|---|---|
| present participle | lifting a finger |
| past participle | lifted a finger |
| past | lifted a finger |
Origin of lift a finger
Compare Matthew 23:4.
Questions about lift a finger
- What does lift a finger mean?
- Lift a finger means to make minimal effort; to help as little as possible.
- What part of speech is lift a finger?
- Lift a finger is a verb.
- What is the past tense of lift a finger?
- The past tense of lift a finger is lifted a finger.
Words near lift a finger in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lift a finger (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: “lift a finger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lift_a_finger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.