go through the motions
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It became infamous because both teams appeared to go through the motions, knowing the result suited them both.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
You should at least go through the motions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
Still, he manages to go through the motions: He marries, has a daughter and seems to have a prosperous career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2023
“It makes little sense to go through the motions of a three-week evidentiary hearing and all that would follow without a compliant route that can be permitted,” Commission Staff Attorney Kristen Edwards said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023
Why go through the motions of getting an education and watch the war slowly chip away at the one thing I had loved here, the peace, the measureless, careless peace of the Devon summer?
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
