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• down-to-earth
  down-to-earth

  adjective

  practical and realistic.
• down to earth
  down to earth

  Back to reality. For example, It's time the employees were brought down to earth concerning the budget . P.G. Wodehouse had this idiom in Very Good, Jeeves! (1930): “I had for some little time been living . . . in another world. I now came down to earth with a bang.” [Late 1920s]

down-to-earth

American  

[doun-too-urth, -tuh-] / ˈdaʊn tuˈɜrθ, -tə- /

adjective

1. practical and realistic.

   a down-to-earth person.

   Synonyms:

   pragmatic, sober, sensible, hardheaded

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down-to-earth British  

adjective

1. sensible; practical; realistic

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down to earth Idioms  

1. Back to reality. For example, It's time the employees were brought down to earth concerning the budget . P.G. Wodehouse had this idiom in Very Good, Jeeves! (1930): “I had for some little time been living . . . in another world. I now came down to earth with a bang.” [Late 1920s]

2. Also, down-to-earth . Realistic or interested in everyday occurrences, as in She is a very down-to-earth person, not at all involved with the glamour of Hollywood . [1930s]

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Etymology

Origin of down-to-earth

First recorded in 1925–30

Explanation

If you're practical and unpretentious, your friends might describe you as down-to-earth. When a movie star is known for being unassuming and friendly, you can also call them down-to-earth. This adjective has two slightly different meanings, the first of which is "realistic and sensible." You could say that someone who's down-to-earth has a lot of common sense. The second meaning is "modest or unpretentious," like a rock star who drives an old car and shows up at the local library and coffee shop — just like a regular person. Either way, being described as down-to-earth is always a compliment.

Example Sentences

“They’re just such good people. Down to earth people,” Vance said last month.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 12, 2022

Down to earth — he wandered around the St. Regis Hotel here in hiking shoes — Mr. Wilson eventually started writing and producing alongside Cubby Broccoli.

From New York Times • Nov. 6, 2015

"Down to earth" is how Ursalina Rios remembers Francis during his pre-pope visits to Our Lady of Caacupe.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 17, 2015

Down to earth raced many winds, flapping from their wings an enormous flutter of feathery snow.

From Time Magazine Archive

Down to earth hath heaven come; hard telling sun-clouds from the isles.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Melville, Herman

Related Words

• hardheaded
• no-nonsense
• plainspoken
• pragmatic
• realistic
• sensible
• sober