"push the envelope" meaning in All languages combined

See push the envelope on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

IPA: /ˌpʊʃ ðiː ˈɛnvələʊp/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-ˈɒnv(ə)ləʊp/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌpʊʃ ði ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/ [General-American], /-ˈɑn-/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-push the envelope.ogg Forms: pushes the envelope [present, singular, third-person], pushing the envelope [participle, present], pushed the envelope [participle, past], pushed the envelope [past]
Etymology: From push (“to continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal”) + the + envelope (“set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively”) (compare flight envelope), referring to the boundary line on a graph of an aircraft’s capabilities, especially those of altitude and speed. The term was popularized by the book The Right Stuff (1979) by the American author and journalist Tom Wolfe (1930–2018) about the pilots engaged in United States postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft, and the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s human spaceflight program. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} push the envelope (third-person singular simple present pushes the envelope, present participle pushing the envelope, simple past and past participle pushed the envelope)
  1. (intransitive, idiomatic, originally aeronautics) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer. Wikipedia link: Project Mercury, Tom Wolfe Tags: idiomatic, intransitive Categories (topical): Aeronautics Synonyms: push the edge of the envelope, stretch the envelope Related terms: raise the bar, push it Translations (to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer): koetella rajoja (Finnish), rikkoa rajoja (Finnish), bis an die Grenze gehen (German), iomairí nua a threabhadh (Irish), jechać po bandzie [imperfective] (Polish), tänja på gränserna (Swedish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From push (“to continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal”) + the + envelope (“set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively”) (compare flight envelope), referring to the boundary line on a graph of an aircraft’s capabilities, especially those of altitude and speed. The term was popularized by the book The Right Stuff (1979) by the American author and journalist Tom Wolfe (1930–2018) about the pilots engaged in United States postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft, and the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s human spaceflight program.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushes the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushing the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "push the envelope (third-person singular simple present pushes the envelope, present participle pushing the envelope, simple past and past participle pushed the envelope)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "push"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Aeronautics",
          "orig": "en:Aeronautics",
          "parents": [
            "Sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They pushed the envelope on pricing derivatives.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Popular Mechanics, volume 169, number 11, page 18:",
          "text": "Aerial photography was coming into its own, and flying shutterbugs pushed the envelope, striving to outsnap each other.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 November 29, Ross Douthat, “Pushing the Envelope”, in The Atlantic:",
          "text": "This is basically why I’ve enjoyed the rise of Huckabee and Paul: Not because I agree with them on an issue-by-issue basis, but because they’re willing to push the envelope a bit, and expand the definition of what a conservative can stand for in ways that I think are ultimately healthy for the party.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 July 11, Adam Pasick, “In Rapidly Aging Japan, Adult Diaper Sales Are About to Surpass Baby Diapers”, in The Atlantic:",
          "text": "Marketing to consumers can still be a minefield […] but diaper manufacturers—confident that the embarrassment factor can be overcome—are determined to push the envelope.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 3, Richard Foster, “Training the next generation of engineers”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 51:",
          "text": "\"You've got to keep pushing the envelope in terms of what else you can do,\" he says. \"It's all about trying - to use that horrible management phrase - to 'sweat the asset'.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go beyond established limits; to pioneer."
      ],
      "id": "en-push_the_envelope-en-verb-SBy18mNu",
      "links": [
        [
          "aeronautics",
          "aeronautics"
        ],
        [
          "go",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "beyond",
          "beyond#Preposition"
        ],
        [
          "established",
          "established#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "limits",
          "limit#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pioneer",
          "pioneer#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic, originally aeronautics) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "raise the bar"
        },
        {
          "word": "push it"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "push the edge of the envelope"
        },
        {
          "word": "stretch the envelope"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "word": "koetella rajoja"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "word": "rikkoa rajoja"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "word": "bis an die Grenze gehen"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "word": "iomairí nua a threabhadh"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "jechać po bandzie"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
          "word": "tänja på gränserna"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Project Mercury",
        "Tom Wolfe"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpʊʃ ðiː ˈɛnvələʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈɒnv(ə)ləʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpʊʃ ði ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈɑn-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-push the envelope.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "push the envelope"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From push (“to continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal”) + the + envelope (“set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively”) (compare flight envelope), referring to the boundary line on a graph of an aircraft’s capabilities, especially those of altitude and speed. The term was popularized by the book The Right Stuff (1979) by the American author and journalist Tom Wolfe (1930–2018) about the pilots engaged in United States postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft, and the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s human spaceflight program.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushes the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushing the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed the envelope",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "push the envelope (third-person singular simple present pushes the envelope, present participle pushing the envelope, simple past and past participle pushed the envelope)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "push"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "raise the bar"
    },
    {
      "word": "push it"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Irish translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "en:Aeronautics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They pushed the envelope on pricing derivatives.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992, Popular Mechanics, volume 169, number 11, page 18:",
          "text": "Aerial photography was coming into its own, and flying shutterbugs pushed the envelope, striving to outsnap each other.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 November 29, Ross Douthat, “Pushing the Envelope”, in The Atlantic:",
          "text": "This is basically why I’ve enjoyed the rise of Huckabee and Paul: Not because I agree with them on an issue-by-issue basis, but because they’re willing to push the envelope a bit, and expand the definition of what a conservative can stand for in ways that I think are ultimately healthy for the party.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 July 11, Adam Pasick, “In Rapidly Aging Japan, Adult Diaper Sales Are About to Surpass Baby Diapers”, in The Atlantic:",
          "text": "Marketing to consumers can still be a minefield […] but diaper manufacturers—confident that the embarrassment factor can be overcome—are determined to push the envelope.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2024 April 3, Richard Foster, “Training the next generation of engineers”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 51:",
          "text": "\"You've got to keep pushing the envelope in terms of what else you can do,\" he says. \"It's all about trying - to use that horrible management phrase - to 'sweat the asset'.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To go beyond established limits; to pioneer."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "aeronautics",
          "aeronautics"
        ],
        [
          "go",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "beyond",
          "beyond#Preposition"
        ],
        [
          "established",
          "established#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "limits",
          "limit#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "pioneer",
          "pioneer#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, idiomatic, originally aeronautics) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "push the edge of the envelope"
        },
        {
          "word": "stretch the envelope"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Project Mercury",
        "Tom Wolfe"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpʊʃ ðiː ˈɛnvələʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈɒnv(ə)ləʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpʊʃ ði ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ˈɑn-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-push the envelope.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1e/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/En-au-push_the_envelope.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "word": "koetella rajoja"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "word": "rikkoa rajoja"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "word": "bis an die Grenze gehen"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "word": "iomairí nua a threabhadh"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "jechać po bandzie"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to go beyond established limits — see also pioneer",
      "word": "tänja på gränserna"
    }
  ],
  "word": "push the envelope"
}

Download raw JSONL data for push the envelope meaning in All languages combined (5.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.