no holds barred
Meaning: With no rules or restraints.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The debate was a no-holds-barred argument about the budget.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From wrestling, where certain holds are normally forbidden; in a "no holds barred" bout, none were. The figurative use is common from the early 20th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: sin cuartel — literally: without quarter
More idioms — Daily Life
- jump at the chance — To accept an opportunity eagerly and at once.
- a matter of life and death — Something of the greatest possible seriousness.
- rough and ready — Crude but good enough for the purpose.
- keep up appearances — To behave as if nothing is wrong, to protect one's reputation.
- at the stroke of a pen — By one quick official decision.
- not on your life — Absolutely not.
More English idioms
- one's heart sinks — To feel sudden disappointment or dread.
- shoulder to shoulder — Side by side, working together.
- grow like wildfire — To spread very fast.
- tread carefully — To act with great caution in a delicate situation.
- pull the other one — Said to someone telling an obvious lie.
- make a clean break — To end something completely rather than gradually.
From our untranslatable words
- Schadenfreude — The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
- Wabi-sabi — Finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the worn or incomplete.
- Tsundoku — Buying books and letting them pile up unread — a habit, not a crime.