show the ropes
show the ropes verb: to teach the basics of a skill.
Verb
show the ropes (third-person singular simple present shows the ropes, present participle showing the ropes, simple past showed the ropes, past participle shown the ropes)
Examples of show the ropes in a sentence
- One nice boy, whom I leave behind to show the ropes, is scandalously killed by one of their sentries.1930, Frank Percy Crozier, A Brass Hat in No Man's Land, J. Cape & H. Smith, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 87:
- Danzinger sent other roomers for Fonville to show the ropes.2011, Cruise of the Pintail, page 123:
Forms of show the ropes
| third-person singular present | shows the ropes |
|---|---|
| present participle | showing the ropes |
| past | showed the ropes |
| past participle | shown the ropes |
Origin of show the ropes
See learn the ropes.
Questions about show the ropes
- What does show the ropes mean?
- Show the ropes means to teach the basics of a skill.
- How do you use show the ropes in a sentence?
- One nice boy, whom I leave behind to show the ropes, is scandalously killed by one of their sentries.
- What part of speech is show the ropes?
- Show the ropes is a verb.
- What is the past tense of show the ropes?
- The past tense of show the ropes is showed the ropes.
Words near show the ropes in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: show the ropes (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: “show the ropes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/show_the_ropes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.