meat and potatoes
the essential or basic part: Community service is the meat and potatoes of this program.
Origin of meat and potatoes
1Words Nearby meat and potatoes
Other definitions for meat-and-potatoes (2 of 2)
or meat-and-po·ta·to
fundamental; down-to-earth; basic: What are the meat-and-potatoes issues of the election?
Origin of meat-and-potatoes
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use meat and potatoes in a sentence
Think of what a meat-and-potatoes Democrat like Ed Rendell would do in the job.
A meat-and-potatoes Democrat like Ed Rendell would make jobs and the economy the true top priority of his administration.
Poverty Plagues Obama’s America, Press Based in Booming Cities Shrugs | Stuart Stevens | April 9, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Other Idioms and Phrases with meat and potatoes
The fundamental part or parts of something, as in This paragraph is the meat and potatoes of the contract. This metaphoric term transfers what some regard as basic fare to the basics of an issue. [Mid-1900s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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