"wear too many hats" meaning in English

See wear too many hats in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-wear too many hats.ogg Forms: wears too many hats [present, singular, third-person], wearing too many hats [participle, present], wore too many hats [past], worn too many hats [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|wear<,,wore,worn> too many hats}} wear too many hats (third-person singular simple present wears too many hats, present participle wearing too many hats, simple past wore too many hats, past participle worn too many hats)
  1. (idiomatic) To try to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: wear many hats, wear two hats, have one's fingers in many pies, have too many irons in the fire, jack of all trades, spread oneself thin, string to one's bow Translations (fill many roles at once): viele Aufgaben haben (German), viele Funktionen haben (German), viele Funktionen erfüllen (German), viele Funktionen ausüben (German), viele Funktionen übernehmen (German), in vielen Funktionen tätig sein (German), vielseitig sein (German), viele Aufgaben übernehmen (German), sich verschiedene Hüte aufsetzen (German), eierlegende Wollmilchsau [feminine] (German)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wears too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wearing too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wore too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worn too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wear<,,wore,worn> too many hats"
      },
      "expansion": "wear too many hats (third-person singular simple present wears too many hats, present participle wearing too many hats, simple past wore too many hats, past participle worn too many hats)",
      "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": "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 German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1963 August 10, Cameron Dewar, “Too Many Hats for 'Jennie'”, in Billboard:",
          "text": "She is asked to be a comedienne, dancer, stunt woman, singer and dramatic actress — and the truth is that she is trying to wear too many hats.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To try to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible."
      ],
      "id": "en-wear_too_many_hats-en-verb-74x7Uplc",
      "links": [
        [
          "roles",
          "roles"
        ],
        [
          "realistically",
          "realistically"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To try to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "wear many hats"
        },
        {
          "word": "wear two hats"
        },
        {
          "word": "have one's fingers in many pies"
        },
        {
          "word": "have too many irons in the fire"
        },
        {
          "word": "jack of all trades"
        },
        {
          "word": "spread oneself thin"
        },
        {
          "word": "string to one's bow"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Aufgaben haben"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Funktionen haben"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Funktionen erfüllen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Funktionen ausüben"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Funktionen übernehmen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "in vielen Funktionen tätig sein"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "vielseitig sein"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "viele Aufgaben übernehmen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "word": "sich verschiedene Hüte aufsetzen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "fill many roles at once",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "eierlegende Wollmilchsau"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wear too many hats.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wear too many hats"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wears too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wearing too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wore too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worn too many hats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wear<,,wore,worn> too many hats"
      },
      "expansion": "wear too many hats (third-person singular simple present wears too many hats, present participle wearing too many hats, simple past wore too many hats, past participle worn too many hats)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "wear many hats"
    },
    {
      "word": "wear two hats"
    },
    {
      "word": "have one's fingers in many pies"
    },
    {
      "word": "have too many irons in the fire"
    },
    {
      "word": "jack of all trades"
    },
    {
      "word": "spread oneself thin"
    },
    {
      "word": "string to one's bow"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with German translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1963 August 10, Cameron Dewar, “Too Many Hats for 'Jennie'”, in Billboard:",
          "text": "She is asked to be a comedienne, dancer, stunt woman, singer and dramatic actress — and the truth is that she is trying to wear too many hats.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To try to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "roles",
          "roles"
        ],
        [
          "realistically",
          "realistically"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To try to fill more roles at once than is realistically possible."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wear too many hats.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/En-au-wear_too_many_hats.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Aufgaben haben"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Funktionen haben"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Funktionen erfüllen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Funktionen ausüben"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Funktionen übernehmen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "in vielen Funktionen tätig sein"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "vielseitig sein"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "viele Aufgaben übernehmen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "word": "sich verschiedene Hüte aufsetzen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "fill many roles at once",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "eierlegende Wollmilchsau"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wear too many hats"
}

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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 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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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