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go through the motions



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Idioms and Phrases

Do something perfunctorily, or merely pretend to do it. For example, The team is so far behind that they're just going through the motions , or She didn't really grieve at his death; she just went through the motions . [c. 1800]

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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.

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