Word.ws English Dictionary

on the mat

on the mat prepositional phrase: to be reprimanded or called to account by someone in authority.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To be reprimanded or called to account by someone in authority.
  2. (idiomatic, informal) Under consideration or discussion.

Questions about on the mat

What does on the mat mean?
On the mat means to be reprimanded or called to account by someone in authority.
What part of speech is on the mat?
On the mat is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the mat in the dictionary

  1. on the low
  2. on the make
  3. on the march
  4. on the mark
  5. on the market
  6. on the mat
  7. on the mend
  8. on the mending hand
  9. on the merits
  10. on the money
  11. on the mop

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the mat (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: “on the mat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_mat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.