let off steam
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.
"I would say that this is an attempt to give young people a valve to let off steam - so that they can at least have the illusion of a quick trip abroad," he says.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2025
There were corrugated aluminum chutes down the mountainside to channel water, and I joked that they were water slides for predators to let off steam between kills.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2024
A street full of 1980s-era cabarets and restaurants is a snapshot of a more prosperous time when young fishermen gathered to let off steam and spend big paychecks.
From New York Times • Jan. 3, 2023
But Echo of Moscow remained on the air and independent when other news media channels fell under state control, perhaps because the station was a place for liberals to let off steam.
From Washington Post • Mar. 2, 2022
On Libra, if people felt hostile, they would be urged to put their energies into athletic contests or other competitive events, or simply to let off steam by going flying.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
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.
