to the point
Idioms-
Relevant, concerning the matter at hand, as in Her remarks were brief and to the point , or He rambled on and on, never speaking to the point . [Early 1800s] For an antonym, see beside the point .
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Concerning the important or essential issue, as in More to the point, she hasn't any money . This usage is often put as , meaning “address the important issue.” For example, Please come to the point; we haven't much time , or Do you suppose he'll ever get to the point of all this? [Late 1300s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The unaddressed problem, as Benna told Bloomberg, is that average workers are increasingly strapped to the point that they may not be able to make retirement contributions at all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Yet across the continent, their disappearance is becoming impossible to ignore, as conservationists warn that hunting linked to traditional beliefs and spiritual practices continues to threaten several vulture species to the point of near extinction.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
But such incidents have become increasingly commonplace to the point of numbing us.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Microsoft and Google’s cloud businesses have grown faster than Amazon’s for some time, to the point where they pose a legitimate threat to AWS’s dominance of an industry it virtually invented two decades ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
More to the point, it mattered to Daniel’s family, and Boaz needed to catch him before he went back uptown.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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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.