down-to-earth
[doun-too-urth, -tuh-]
- practical and realistic: a down-to-earth person.
Show More
Origin of down-to-earth
First recorded in 1925–30
Synonyms
See more synonyms for down-to-earth on Thesaurus.comhard-headed, sensible, sober, pragmatic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
down-to-earth
- sensible; practical; realistic
Show More
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
adj.
also down to earth, as an adjectival phrase, attested from 1932.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with down to earth
down to earth
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]
Show More
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]
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.