Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use proverbial in a sentence

35 example sentences · adjective, noun

Proverbial means of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale. Example: “The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.”

Examples of proverbial by meaning

adjectiveOf, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.

  • The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.
  • The beaver in this instance upheld the reputation of the proverbial one: her output was prodigious.
  • Doris: You're making me feel like the proverbial stepmother.1947, Miracle on 34th Street (transcript)

adjectiveOptionally placed before an element of a well-known proverb or metaphor to emphasize that the element is not being used...

  • the proverbial smoking gun
  • the proverbial spilled milk
  • The visit was a warning shot across our proverbial bow

adjectiveWidely known; famous; stereotypical.

  • I grew up in a prefab house on Main Street in 1950s suburbia, the second and last child of a proverbial nuclear family.
  • Obama has presented himself as a fresh face, unsteeped in Washington and the proverbial “politics as usual.”2007 May 17, Mark Leibovich, “For ’08 Résumés, Don’t Ask Them to Fill in Blanks”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25...

nounUsed to replace a word that might be considered unacceptable in a particular situation, when using a well-known phrase.

  • I think we should be prepared in case the proverbial hits the fan.
  • Are you taking the proverbial?

nounThe groin or the testicles.

  • You'll find they've got you by the proverbials.

More sentences with proverbial

  • I am really at loose ends about this choice; I am between the proverbial rock and hard place.From the entry at loose ends
  • The making of buggy whips is the proverbial exemplar of a business without sustainability in the face of technological change.From the entry sustainability
  • In this sense, the GOP are the proverbial dog that caught the car.2022 May 10, Alex Shephard, “With Roe, the GOP Is the Dog that Caught the Car”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 13 Jul…. From the entry dog that caught the car
  • Built like the proverbial brick outhouse, it nevertheless had "no energy-absorbing design features".2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 42. From the entry built like a brick outhouse
  • Catch phrases, like the closely linked proverbial sayings, are self-contained, as, obviously, clichés are too.2003 [1985], Eric Partridge, “Introduction to the First Editon”, in Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, 2nd edition…. From the entry catchphrase
  • The mail lady enters, singing to herself, the proverbial bull in a china shop.1993, Claudia Allen, She's Always Liked the Girls Best: Lesbian Plays, page 142. From the entry mail lady
  • And a gorgeous slop pail covered in the proverbial violets, would you believe?”1984, Josephine Boyle, chapter 3, in A Spectre in the Hall, London: Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Limited, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry fishkettle
  • For Apocalypse Now (above), Francis Ford Coppola reinvented the Vietnam War with the proverbial cast of thousands.1977, James Monaco, How to Read a Film - The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, page 15. From the entry cast of thousands
  • Of all that impecunious community, Limpet's impecuniosity had almost reached the dignity of being proverbial.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 153. From the entry impecuniosity
  • Trump, and willingness to toss proverbial bombs in Washington’s corridors of power, has shown no bounds, at least in public.2024 November 14, Linda Feldmann, Henry Gass, “Trump’s eye-popping Cabinet picks show his top priority: Loyalty”, in The Christian Science…. From the entry bomb
  • Give me a swift death, she thought — a hammer blow to the head, the sudden aneurism, the proverbial bus.2024, Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook, Doubleday, page 263. From the entry aneurism
  • In other words, they were put on the proverbial backbench.2010, Ezra E. H. Griffith, Ye Shall Dream: Patriarch Granville Williams and the Barbados Spiritual Baptists, page 180. From the entry backbench
  • They've already gathered their harem, and are in no hurry to leave them for the proverbial "bird in the bush."2003, Massachusetts Wildlife - Volumes 53-54, page 31. From the entry henned-up
  • Everyone seemed to think the suspender boom would drop like the proverbial fireman’s pants when the ‘80s ended.1993 August 27, John Morell, “Brace Yourselves, Guys: Suspenders Are Not Meant to Be Seen”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los…. From the entry braces
  • I got the proverbial "run-around," and this effort only confirmed my suspicion that the INS was sitting on my application.1986, Gilberto Gerald, “With My Head Held Up High”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology. From the entry ins
  • He was old and sober, a hard-working student and an apparently passive individual who would not harm the proverbial fly.1981 February 7, Nancy Walker, “A Gentle Guy”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 28, page 13. From the entry harm a fly
  • The American’s brash unconcern for nuance indicates a young and vigorous country, the Briton’s clipped speech an ancient, proverbial reserve.1958, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in Mackerel Plaza, Penguin, published 1986, page 209. From the entry brash
  • This play has a proverbial reputation for bad luck.1949, Five Seasons of the Old Vic Theatre Company, page 5. From the entry vic
  • It looked the proverbial Lombard Street to a china orange that he must be run down and killed.1937, Sir Malcolm Campbell, The Roads and the Problem of their Safety, London: Hutchinson, page 151. From the entry Lombard Street to a China orange
  • Colin Montgomerie has been a heckling target of U.S. crowds for years, infamous as he was for having the proverbial rabbit ears.2014 September 28, John Strege, “Colin Montgomerie on Patrick Reed: 'America needed 12 of these guys'”, in GolfDigest. From the entry rabbit ears
  • He was tall, with an Arnold Schwarzenegger chest, and fit with the flower shop as well as the proverbial bull in the china closet.2009, Sheila Roberts, Love in bloom. From the entry Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • On the contrary, anyone who has been on the receiving end of the proverbial “wet noodle” handshake also knows what I am talking about.2008, Christopher J. Andrews, Why Didn't Somebody Tell Me This Stuff?, →ISBN, page 59. From the entry wet noodle
  • Because other aspects are also seen as contributing to proverbiality—equivocation, authoritativeness, and negotiation of power relations—a text may be proverbial to various degrees.2005, Rose Marie Beck, “Texts on Textiles: Proverbiality as Characteristic of Equivocal Communication at the East African Coast…. From the entry proverbiality
  • Those proverbial powers-that-be in television are trying to accomplish what one would think impossible: to make the picture irrelevant to television instead of its raison d’etre.2001 December 10, “With all these crawls, I’m walking”, in Electronic Media, page 25. From the entry Mona Lisan

Meaning of proverbial

  1. adjective Of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
  2. adjective Optionally placed before an element of a well-known proverb or metaphor to emphasize that the element is not being used in a literal sense (see Usage notes below).
  3. adjective Widely known; famous; stereotypical.

Full definition of proverbial

Questions about proverbial in a sentence

How do you use proverbial in a sentence?
Proverbial is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.”
What is a short sentence with proverbial?
“the proverbial smoking gun”
What does proverbial mean?
Proverbial means of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: proverbial (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use proverbial in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/proverbial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.