ins and outs
19
5.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
entresijos
- Taught me the ins and outs of the game, lucky too.
- know the ins and outs
Examples
-
What I want to talk about are the ins and outs of maternity leave for US workers.
Blog text (22) -
What you need is someone who knows the ins and outs of this business.
-
I get the ins and outs of it.
-
The next six months, I got to know the ins and outs of Wall Street.
-
I learned the ins and outs of the process in my first year of teaching.
Blog text (13) -
In a new series of columns, I will explore the ins and outs of becoming a campus administrator.
Academic text (2017) -
I am still learning the ins and outs of WordPress and am just seeing your comment now.
Blog text (2) -
Here, I cover relationships, the ins and outs of surviving in this hectic city, and artistic inspiration.
Blog text (5) -
Patty Kay Matthews knew the ins and outs of organizations, P213 boards, groups, and committees.
Fiction book (1994) -
What you need is someone who knows the ins and outs of this business.
Antonyms
How Detailed
- Informal
14
6.5
- Informal
19
5.3
5
1.4
43
3.1
74
3.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
ins + and + outs
The phrase uses pluralized forms of the oppositional particles 'in' and 'out', so a learner who knows those words can partly infer a contrast of internal vs external aspects and guess it refers to different sides or aspects of a situation. However, the conventionalized plural noun use and the overall idiomatic meaning 'all the detailed/complicated aspects' is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
The phrase ins and outs may come from the simple image of going in and out of a place many times; by seeing every in and every out you learn the small, hidden parts of how something works. So, ins and outs now means 'all the detailed or complicated parts'.