"scratch the surface" meaning in All languages combined

See scratch the surface on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-scratch the surface.ogg Forms: scratches the surface [present, singular, third-person], scratching the surface [participle, present], scratched the surface [participle, past], scratched the surface [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} scratch the surface (third-person singular simple present scratches the surface, present participle scratching the surface, simple past and past participle scratched the surface)
  1. (idiomatic) To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: scratch beneath the surface, tip of the iceberg Translations (Translations): arañar la superficie (Spanish), rascar la faz (Spanish), rayar el exterior (Spanish)
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scratches the surface",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratching the surface",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratched the surface",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratched the surface",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "scratch the surface (third-person singular simple present scratches the surface, present participle scratching the surface, simple past and past participle scratched the surface)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "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": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "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 Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This beginners' course only scratches the surface of the subject.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible."
      ],
      "id": "en-scratch_the_surface-en-verb-AkxfOQh1",
      "links": [
        [
          "begin",
          "begin"
        ],
        [
          "fraction",
          "fraction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "scratch beneath the surface"
        },
        {
          "word": "tip of the iceberg"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "arañar la superficie"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "rascar la faz"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "rayar el exterior"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-scratch the surface.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "scratch the surface"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scratches the surface",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratching the surface",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratched the surface",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scratched the surface",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "scratch the surface (third-person singular simple present scratches the surface, present participle scratching the surface, simple past and past participle scratched the surface)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "scratch beneath the surface"
    },
    {
      "word": "tip of the iceberg"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This beginners' course only scratches the surface of the subject.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "begin",
          "begin"
        ],
        [
          "fraction",
          "fraction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To barely begin; to see or do only a fraction of what is possible."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-scratch the surface.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-scratch_the_surface.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "arañar la superficie"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "rascar la faz"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "rayar el exterior"
    }
  ],
  "word": "scratch the surface"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). 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.