go through the motions
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was an opportunity to wrap the hands with his new training team, do the ringwalk and go through the motions.
From BBC • Dec. 17, 2025
You should at least go through the motions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
“I would go through the motions of breathing but feel like I wasn’t getting any oxygen, ” said Roy, 41.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2023
“It makes little sense to go through the motions of a three-week evidentiary hearing and all that would follow without a compliant route that can be permitted,” Commission Staff Attorney Kristen Edwards said.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 11, 2023
They go through the motions; then they lock them up.
From "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
