Word.ws English Dictionary

on one's plate

on one's plate prepositional phrase: to be dealt with or handled.

Prepositional phrase

  1. To be dealt with or handled.
    • I can't take on any more work. I already have enough on my plate.
    • "Sorry, Dave," says Bryan, tossing his notes onto Bliss's desk. "But this one's down to you. I've already got half a dozen blaggings on my plate thanks to our Muslim mates.”2007, James Hawkins, Deadly Sin, page 176
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, plate.
    • I put too much food on my plate — but it would be rude not to finish it now!

Origin of on one's plate

From the metaphor of an amount of food ready to be eaten.

Questions about on one's plate

What does on one's plate mean?
On one's plate means to be dealt with or handled.
What part of speech is on one's plate?
On one's plate is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on one's plate in the dictionary

  1. on one's part
  2. on one's pat
  3. on one's Pat Malone
  4. on one's period
  5. on one's person
  6. on one's plate
  7. on one's Ps
  8. on one's side
  9. on one's tod
  10. on one's todd
  11. on one's toes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on one's plate (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: “on one's plate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_one%27s_plate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.