"fish out of water" meaning in English

See fish out of water in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-fish out of water.ogg Forms: fishes out of water [plural], fish out of water [plural]
Etymology: * Earliest recorded uses: "fish out of the water" (1585, Lamentable Complaint of Commonality), "Fishes out of the Water" (1613, Samuel Purchas, Pilgrimage). * Earliest use of metaphor by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue (c. 1405) as "fissh þᵗ is waterlees". Compare also the antonymous French comme un poisson dans l’eau, German wie ein Fisch im Wasser. Etymology templates: {{sup|1}} ¹, {{sup|t}} ᵗ, {{cog|fr|comme un poisson dans l'eau}} French comme un poisson dans l’eau, {{cog|de|wie ein Fisch im Wasser}} German wie ein Fisch im Wasser Head templates: {{en-noun|fishes out of water|fish out of water}} fish out of water (plural fishes out of water or fish out of water)
  1. (idiomatic) A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): People Synonyms: square peg in a round hole Translations (a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings): soos 'n vis op droë grond (Afrikaans), peix fora d'aigua [masculine] (Catalan), kuin kala kuivalla maalla (Finnish), wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen (German), but less common (German), more usually sich fremd fühlen (German), sich nicht zu Hause fühlen (German), pesce fuor d'acqua (Italian), 陸に上がった河童 (oka ni agatta kappa) (alt: おかにあがったかっぱ) (Japanese), seperti rusa masuk kampung (Malay), bagai kerbau terkejut oleh gong (Malay), tak pernah masuk gelanggang bergung (Malay), ħuta barra mill-ilma (Maltese), como peixe fora d'água (Portuguese), como pez fuera del agua (Spanish)

Inflected forms

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          "code": "af",
          "lang": "Afrikaans",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "soos 'n vis op droë grond"
        },
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          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "peix fora d'aigua"
        },
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "kuin kala kuivalla maalla"
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen"
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          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "more usually sich fremd fühlen"
        },
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "sich nicht zu Hause fühlen"
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "pesce fuor d'acqua"
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          "word": "陸に上がった河童"
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
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          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "ħuta barra mill-ilma"
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "como peixe fora d'água"
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          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
          "word": "como pez fuera del agua"
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    {
      "code": "af",
      "lang": "Afrikaans",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "soos 'n vis op droë grond"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
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      "word": "peix fora d'aigua"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "kuin kala kuivalla maalla"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "wie ein Fisch auf dem Trockenen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "but less common"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "more usually sich fremd fühlen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "sich nicht zu Hause fühlen"
    },
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      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "pesce fuor d'acqua"
    },
    {
      "alt": "おかにあがったかっぱ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "oka ni agatta kappa",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "陸に上がった河童"
    },
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      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "seperti rusa masuk kampung"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "bagai kerbau terkejut oleh gong"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "tak pernah masuk gelanggang bergung"
    },
    {
      "code": "mt",
      "lang": "Maltese",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "ħuta barra mill-ilma"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "como peixe fora d'água"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "a person in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings",
      "word": "como pez fuera del agua"
    }
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  "word": "fish out of water"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fish out of water meaning in English (5.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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.

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