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meat-and-potatoes

or meat-and-po·ta·to

[meet-n-puh-tey-tohz, -tuh z]
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adjective Informal.

fundamental; down-to-earth; basic: What are the meat-and-potatoes issues of the election?

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RELATED WORDS

profound, necessary, key, integral, needed, fundamental, indispensable, crucial, urgent, important, imperative, critical, significant, basic, decisive, meaningful, major, paramount, constitutional, elemental

Nearby words

  1. meat house,
  2. meat loaf,
  3. meat packing,
  4. meat tea,
  5. meat wagon,
  6. meat-ax,
  7. meatal,
  8. meataxe,
  9. meatball,
  10. meath

Origin of meat-and-potatoes

First recorded in 1945–50

meat and potatoes

noun (used with a singular or plural verb) Informal.

the essential or basic part: Community service is the meat and potatoes of this program.

Origin of meat and potatoes

probably earlier than 1950–55
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for meat-and-potatoes

Idioms and Phrases with meat-and-potatoes

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.