"make a meal of" meaning in English

See make a meal of in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-make a meal of.ogg Forms: makes a meal of [present, singular, third-person], making a meal of [participle, present], made a meal of [participle, past], made a meal of [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|make<,,made> a meal of}} make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)
  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Translations (spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant): 小题大作 (xiǎotídàzuò) (Chinese Mandarin), 杀鸡用牛刀 (Chinese Mandarin), nysvätä (Finnish), pipertää (Finnish), pakertaa (Finnish), faire tout un plat de (French), faire un plat de (French)
    Sense id: en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-oNBabOG8 Disambiguation of 'spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant': 100 0
  2. To eat something as a meal. Synonyms: make a meal out of Translations (eat something as a meal): 用餐 (yòngcān) (Chinese Mandarin), nauttia ateriaksi (Finnish), ne faire qu’une bouchée (French), avaler tout rond (French), manger tout cru (French)
    Sense id: en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-qZqBz7Pq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Mandarin translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 20 80 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 23 77 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 19 81 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 11 89 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 23 77 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 39 61 Disambiguation of 'eat something as a meal': 0 100

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> a meal of"
      },
      "expansion": "make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Alison Aprhys, Careers in Publishing and Bookselling: How to Get the Job You Want, Hale & Iremonger, →ISBN, page 191:",
          "text": "Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "a. 2004, Kate Williams, Using Information for Decision Making, Second edition, Elsevier, published 2004, →ISBN, page 53:",
          "text": "They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Julia Gregson, East of the Sun, Simon and Schuster, published 2009, →ISBN:",
          "text": "page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene.\npage 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 3, Andrew Barker, “Morning Glory (review)”, in Variety:",
          "text": "Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word \"frittata\" may well be the film's high point.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-oNBabOG8",
      "links": [
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "energy",
          "energy"
        ],
        [
          "warrant",
          "warrant"
        ],
        [
          "complicated",
          "complicated"
        ],
        [
          "make a big thing out of",
          "make a big thing out of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "xiǎotídàzuò",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "小题大作"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "杀鸡用牛刀"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "nysvätä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "pipertää"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "pakertaa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "faire tout un plat de"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
          "word": "faire un plat de"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To eat something as a meal."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_a_meal_of-en-verb-qZqBz7Pq",
      "links": [
        [
          "eat",
          "eat"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "word": "make a meal out of"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yòngcān",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "用餐"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "nauttia ateriaksi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "ne faire qu’une bouchée"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "avaler tout rond"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "eat something as a meal",
          "word": "manger tout cru"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make a meal of.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a meal of"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made a meal of",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "make<,,made> a meal of"
      },
      "expansion": "make a meal of (third-person singular simple present makes a meal of, present participle making a meal of, simple past and past participle made a meal of)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1997, Alison Aprhys, Careers in Publishing and Bookselling: How to Get the Job You Want, Hale & Iremonger, →ISBN, page 191:",
          "text": "Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "a. 2004, Kate Williams, Using Information for Decision Making, Second edition, Elsevier, published 2004, →ISBN, page 53:",
          "text": "They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Julia Gregson, East of the Sun, Simon and Schuster, published 2009, →ISBN:",
          "text": "page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene.\npage 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 November 3, Andrew Barker, “Morning Glory (review)”, in Variety:",
          "text": "Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word \"frittata\" may well be the film's high point.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "energy",
          "energy"
        ],
        [
          "warrant",
          "warrant"
        ],
        [
          "complicated",
          "complicated"
        ],
        [
          "make a big thing out of",
          "make a big thing out of"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To eat something as a meal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "eat",
          "eat"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-make a meal of.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/En-au-make_a_meal_of.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "make a meal out of"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "xiǎotídàzuò",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "小题大作"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "杀鸡用牛刀"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "nysvätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "pipertää"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "pakertaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "faire tout un plat de"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "spend more time and energy on some task than it warrant",
      "word": "faire un plat de"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yòngcān",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "用餐"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "nauttia ateriaksi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "ne faire qu’une bouchée"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "avaler tout rond"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "eat something as a meal",
      "word": "manger tout cru"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make a meal of"
}

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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 2024-12-15 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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