go easy

1. Act or proceed with caution, as in Go easy moving that bookcase , or Go easy on the subject of layoffs . [Late 1800s] Also see easy does it ; take it easy .

2. ; go light on . Use sparingly, as in Go easy with the makeup; a little lipstick is enough , or Go light on the salt . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]

Example Sentences

“I love it when I see dads and grandpas watching it with their daughters and granddaughters, and people having conversations about what the characters are doing,” she says, “although I want people to go easy on Belly. People can be really harsh with her, but she’s a young woman in the world who’s figuring things out. They’re all young people just figuring it out.”

From Los Angeles Times

But feel free to go easy on your first round — even just making and stashing extra portions of one or two reliable family crowd-pleasers like lasagna or baked ziti is a nice gift to your future self.

From Salon

“Go easy with the salt, since the feta itself is salty as can be. But be brave with the black pepper — floral and kicky, it’s a wonderful match for spring fruit.”

From Salon

William Buzbee, a professor at Georgetown Law, told Reuters that the Musk-Ramaswamy interpretation of recent cases is "very confused," and that while Trump has latitude to ask agencies to "go easy" on enforcement, neither court decision restricts federal agency powers as much as Musk and Ramaswamy might wish.

From Salon

In the context of a post–Jan. 6 world where democracy is really teetering and you don’t want to have rulings from the Supreme Court that encourage corruption, my presumption had been that if they were mindful of that context they might come to the conclusion that maybe this is not the time to go easy on corruption.

From Slate