"put one's best foot forward" meaning in English

See put one's best foot forward in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-put one's best foot forward.ogg [Australia] Forms: puts one's best foot forward [present, singular, third-person], putting one's best foot forward [participle, present], put one's best foot forward [participle, past], put one's best foot forward [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|put<,,put> one's best foot forward}} put one's best foot forward (third-person singular simple present puts one's best foot forward, present participle putting one's best foot forward, simple past and past participle put one's best foot forward)
  1. (idiomatic) To show oneself in the best or most positive way possible; to make a favorable impression. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: put one's best foot foremost Translations (make favorable impression): die beste beentjie voorsit (Afrikaans), 留一個好印象 (Chinese Mandarin), 留一个好印象 (liú yīgè hǎo yìnxiàng) (Chinese Mandarin), 全力以赴 (quánlìyǐfù) (Chinese Mandarin), näyttää paras puolensa (Finnish), se montrer sous son meilleur jour (French), fare buona impressione (Italian), fare del proprio meglio (Italian), показа́ть себя́ с лучше́й стороны́ (pokazátʹ sebjá s lučšéj storoný) (Russian), visa framfötterna (english: show the front feet) (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-put_one's_best_foot_forward-en-verb-2HKYQPBc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations

Download JSON data for put one's best foot forward meaning in English (3.6kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> one's best foot forward"
      },
      "expansion": "put one's best foot forward (third-person singular simple present puts one's best foot forward, present participle putting one's best foot forward, simple past and past participle put one's best foot forward)",
      "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": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Try to put your best foot forward at all times during a job interview."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 27, Alex McLevy, “With Smile, Katy Perry is desperately trying to have fun again”, in The A.V. Club",
          "text": "Unsurprisingly, Perry puts her best foot forward on opener “Never Really Over,” a song that not only maintains a catchy, hummable refrain, but also ironically doubles as a sort of mission statement for the artist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To show oneself in the best or most positive way possible; to make a favorable impression."
      ],
      "id": "en-put_one's_best_foot_forward-en-verb-2HKYQPBc",
      "links": [
        [
          "show",
          "show"
        ],
        [
          "positive",
          "positive"
        ],
        [
          "impression",
          "impression"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To show oneself in the best or most positive way possible; to make a favorable impression."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "put one's best foot foremost"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "af",
          "lang": "Afrikaans",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "die beste beentjie voorsit"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "留一個好印象"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "liú yīgè hǎo yìnxiàng",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "留一个好印象"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "quánlìyǐfù",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "全力以赴"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "näyttää paras puolensa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "se montrer sous son meilleur jour"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "fare buona impressione"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "fare del proprio meglio"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pokazátʹ sebjá s lučšéj storoný",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "показа́ть себя́ с лучше́й стороны́"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "english": "show the front feet",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "make favorable impression",
          "word": "visa framfötterna"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-put one's best foot forward.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bf/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "put one's best foot forward"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "puts one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "putting one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "put one's best foot forward",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "put<,,put> one's best foot forward"
      },
      "expansion": "put one's best foot forward (third-person singular simple present puts one's best foot forward, present participle putting one's best foot forward, simple past and past participle put one's best foot forward)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Try to put your best foot forward at all times during a job interview."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 27, Alex McLevy, “With Smile, Katy Perry is desperately trying to have fun again”, in The A.V. Club",
          "text": "Unsurprisingly, Perry puts her best foot forward on opener “Never Really Over,” a song that not only maintains a catchy, hummable refrain, but also ironically doubles as a sort of mission statement for the artist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To show oneself in the best or most positive way possible; to make a favorable impression."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "show",
          "show"
        ],
        [
          "positive",
          "positive"
        ],
        [
          "impression",
          "impression"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To show oneself in the best or most positive way possible; to make a favorable impression."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-put one's best foot forward.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/bf/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/En-au-put_one%27s_best_foot_forward.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "put one's best foot foremost"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "af",
      "lang": "Afrikaans",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "die beste beentjie voorsit"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "留一個好印象"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "liú yīgè hǎo yìnxiàng",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "留一个好印象"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "quánlìyǐfù",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "全力以赴"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "näyttää paras puolensa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "se montrer sous son meilleur jour"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "fare buona impressione"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "fare del proprio meglio"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pokazátʹ sebjá s lučšéj storoný",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "показа́ть себя́ с лучше́й стороны́"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "english": "show the front feet",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "make favorable impression",
      "word": "visa framfötterna"
    }
  ],
  "word": "put one's best foot forward"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.