"give someone enough rope" meaning in English

See give someone enough rope in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-give one enough rope.ogg Forms: gives one enough rope [present, singular, third-person], giving one enough rope [participle, present], gave one enough rope [past], given one enough rope [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|give<,,gave,given> one enough rope}} give someone enough rope (third-person singular simple present gives one enough rope, present participle giving one enough rope, simple past gave one enough rope, past participle given one enough rope)
  1. (idiomatic) To allow one to function unhindered, or without further overbearing oversight. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-give_someone_enough_rope-en-verb-TDAKoSoO
  2. (idiomatic) To allow an enemy to function unhindered in the belief that they will end up harming or discrediting themself. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-give_someone_enough_rope-en-verb-fyImaT1K Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 38 62 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 25 75 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 17 83
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: cut someone some slack, cut him some slack Derived forms: give him enough rope and he'll hang himself Related terms: short leash
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "word": "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> one enough rope"
      },
      "expansion": "give someone enough rope (third-person singular simple present gives one enough rope, present participle giving one enough rope, simple past gave one enough rope, past participle given one enough rope)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "word": "short leash"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To allow one to function unhindered, or without further overbearing oversight."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_someone_enough_rope-en-verb-TDAKoSoO",
      "links": [
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ],
        [
          "unhindered",
          "unhindered"
        ],
        [
          "without",
          "without"
        ],
        [
          "oversight",
          "oversight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To allow one to function unhindered, or without further overbearing oversight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "38 62",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 83",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To allow an enemy to function unhindered in the belief that they will end up harming or discrediting themself."
      ],
      "id": "en-give_someone_enough_rope-en-verb-fyImaT1K",
      "links": [
        [
          "harm",
          "harm"
        ],
        [
          "discredit",
          "discredit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To allow an enemy to function unhindered in the belief that they will end up harming or discrediting themself."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give one enough rope.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "word": "cut someone some slack"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "word": "cut him some slack"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give someone enough rope"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "give him enough rope and he'll hang himself"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gives one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "giving one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gave one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "given one enough rope",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "give<,,gave,given> one enough rope"
      },
      "expansion": "give someone enough rope (third-person singular simple present gives one enough rope, present participle giving one enough rope, simple past gave one enough rope, past participle given one enough rope)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "short leash"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To allow one to function unhindered, or without further overbearing oversight."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ],
        [
          "unhindered",
          "unhindered"
        ],
        [
          "without",
          "without"
        ],
        [
          "oversight",
          "oversight"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To allow one to function unhindered, or without further overbearing oversight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To allow an enemy to function unhindered in the belief that they will end up harming or discrediting themself."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "harm",
          "harm"
        ],
        [
          "discredit",
          "discredit"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To allow an enemy to function unhindered in the belief that they will end up harming or discrediting themself."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-give one enough rope.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/71/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/En-au-give_one_enough_rope.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cut someone some slack"
    },
    {
      "word": "cut him some slack"
    }
  ],
  "word": "give someone enough rope"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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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