down-to-earth
[ doun-too-urth, -tuh- ]
/ ˈdaʊn tuˈɜrθ, -tə- /
adjective
practical and realistic: a down-to-earth person.
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Nearby words
down-hearted, down-home, down-low, down-market, down-the-line, down-to-earth, downbeat, downburst, downcast, downcastly, downcome
Origin of down-to-earth
First recorded in 1925–30
SYNONYMS FOR down-to-earth
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for down to earth
down-to-earth
adjective
sensible; practical; realistic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for down to earth
down-to-earth
also down to earth, as an adjectival phrase, attested from 1932.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with 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]
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]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.