down-to-earth
Americanadjective
adjective
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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]
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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]
Etymology
Origin of down-to-earth
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She has cultivated a down-to-earth image, posting photos on social media of her meal of tinned mackerel on rye bread and cleaning windows at home.
His supporters said he is trying to present himself as down-to-earth and accessible to the workforce.
“Very down-to-earth, though she was even younger than us. A sharp wit who could put you in your place with one look. I loved it!”
From Literature
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“This is the type of friend a lot of us wish we had,” Bryon Taylor wrote on Facebook, who described Porter as a funny, cool and down-to-earth person who loved life.
From Los Angeles Times
But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never left him.
From BBC
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.