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Glite Dictionary
to knuckle down

to knuckle down

4 4.5
To start working hard after not doing much before
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈnʌkəl daʊn/
  • Informal
translation icon : ponerse a trabajar
  • After a long break, she finally knuckled down to study for her final exams.
  • Time to knuckle down
  • knuckle down and get

What did you do to knuckle down and overcome them?

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Examples

  • I need you to knuckle down and finish your project by the deadline.

  • With so many of our children sick, we need to knuckle down and pick up the slack.

    Bones of Crows (2023)

  • When I got out, you just knuckle down and try and get to work and get a job and what did I do?

  • You knuckle down, and you deal with it.

    The Levelling (2017)

  • Hard work: know when to just knuckle down and get on with it.

    Blog text (23)

  • "People want kids to knuckle down and start learning."

    Academic text (1997)

  • What did you do to knuckle down and overcome them?

    High Performance

  • Every day is "the day I'm going to knuckle down."

    Blog text (13)

  • Our students need to knuckle down and study, stop cheating, and focus on learning more than partying.

    Blog text (20)

  • To succeed in this competition, you must knuckle down and put in the necessary effort.

Synonyms

to get down
vsto knuckle down
179 4.4

To start doing work or a task seriously

means to begin serious work but not imply past laziness
to slave
vsto knuckle down
47 5.3

To work very hard for a long time with little rest or reward

focuses on starting hard work, not necessarily long suffering or low reward
to buckle down
vsto knuckle down
  • Informal
11 4.4

To start working hard and seriously after wasting time

starts hard work specifically after a period of not working
to work one's fingers to the bone
vsto knuckle down
  • Informal
4 7.4

Do very hard, long jobs until you are very tired

describes beginning hard effort rather than continuous extreme toil
to pull your finger out
vsto knuckle down
  • UK
9.3

To start trying much harder after being lazy

focuses on beginning effort after prior laziness rather than ongoing toil
to set shoulder to the wheel
vsto knuckle down
  • Informal
8.8

To begin working very hard and not give up on a difficult task

emphasizes steady determined labour rather than just starting hard work
to break one's back
vsto knuckle down
  • Informal
6.0

To work very hard at something until you are very tired

highlights starting serious effort rather than prolonged physical exhaustion

Antonyms

to procrastinate
26 6.5

To delay doing something you should do because you avoid it

to slack off
  • Informal
3 3.9

To become less strong or busy

How Hard

to toil
35 5.3
to knuckle down
  • Informal
4 4.5
work
∞ 1.0
to slack off
  • Informal
3 3.9

Surface Forms

knuckle down infinitive
knuckled down past
knuckled down past participle
knuckling down present participle
knuckles down third person singular

Morphology

knuckle + down

The sense 'to start working very hard' has a partial, metaphorical link to the constituents: one can imagine putting one's 'knuckles' down (physically applying effort) and 'down' signalling a committed action. However the specific figurative shift to 'apply oneself/work hard' is not fully predictable from the literal meanings and may be unfamiliar to a B1 learner without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrasal verb knuckle down may come from the image of putting your knuckles down on a desk or tool and leaning in to begin work. One popular story says people pressed their knuckles to show they were ready to work hard, so today it means 'to start working very hard'.