strings attached
Meaning: Hidden conditions or requirements that make something less advantageous than it first appears.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The free vacation came with strings attached: a three-hour timeshare presentation.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The phrase pictures an agreement or offer with invisible strings attached to it—constraints that bind or restrict the recipient.
More idioms — Daily Life
- back up the truck — To make a large purchase by taking advantage of a favorable price.
- haul someone over the coals — To scold or reprimand someone severely for wrongdoing.
- welcome to my world — You are now experiencing something unpleasant that the speaker knows well and has dealt w…
- built different — Uniquely talented or operating by a different standard than ordinary people.
- on blast — Being publicly shamed or criticized, especially on social media.
- rock the boat — To disrupt the status quo or challenge established conventions and rules.
More English idioms
- rhyme or reason — Any logical sense or reasonable explanation.
- drop in the bucket — A contribution or action so small it is negligible compared to a massive problem.
- bed of roses — A situation or life that is entirely easy, comfortable, and free from hardship.
- made in the shade — Assured of comfort, success, or an effortless, favorable position.
- blow up in one's face — To fail spectacularly or cause a plan to collapse in an embarrassing way.
- make a fist of — To accomplish something with reasonable competence or success.
From our proverbs
- Merry is the feast-making until we come to the reckoning. — Pleasure derived from excess loses its sweetness when consequences and debts demand payme…
- Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them. — Foolish spenders throw lavish parties while prudent people enjoy free entertainment witho…
- Feather by feather the goose is plucked. — Small incremental losses, ignored individually, accumulate into significant depletion ove…