to let off the hook
64
4.1
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
librar (a alguien) de
- There is one person we have been letting off the hook this whole time until now.
Why Trump's claiming the right to let himself off the hook for any crime at anytime.
- Why Trump's claiming the right to let himself off the hook for any crime at anytime.
- Let's stop letting people off the hook by saying they can't help themselves.
- But again, a lot of people let themselves off the hook on this.
- Too many times we let people off the hook.
- This is not to say parents should be let off the hook and anything goes.
- There is no there's no virtue that lets anyone off the hook.
- And I don't like this letting Hunter Biden off the hook.
- And so letting yourself off the hook from that perspective is incredibly important.
- OK more before I I let you off the hook.
- I would do this forever, but I I'm just going to like let you off the hook.
- And but I would say for me, I was so dedicated that I, I never let myself off the hook.
- But, and this is a important question that's being asked here, as does renaming just let universities off the hook too easily?
- There is one person we have been letting off the hook this whole time until now.
- He wanted he wanted Shiv to let him off the hook there so badly.
- I cannot quite let anybody off the hook who says I don't follow politics.
- Douglas is very, very good at not letting people off the hook.
Examples
-
So, why not just let him off the hook and make everybody happy?
-
I'm not going to let you off the hook, ever.
-
But again, a lot of people let themselves off the hook on this.
-
This is not to say parents should be let off the hook and anything goes.
-
Do you need me to let you off the hook?
-
Should we let her off the hook?
-
None of the above, however, lets the teacher off the hook.
Academic text (1990) -
That's what happens when you let someone off the hook.
-
Too often we let ourselves off the hook, refusing to look at our own difficult or ugly truths.
-
The teacher decided to let off the hook the student who forgot to submit his project on time.
Synonyms
462
3.8
Avoid doing a task or taking blame you should accept
238
1.8
To excuse someone from a duty or rule
75
3.5
To not punish someone or excuse them from a duty
Freed from blame or responsibility for something
Antonyms
How Excused
- Formal
129
8.2
- Formal
92
3.9
28
7.4
- Informal
64
4.1
75
3.5
∞
1.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'let' (allow) and 'off' (remove) together suggest releasing or removing someone from something, and 'hook' can be interpreted as a metaphorical restraint, so a learner who knows the words may infer a general sense of being freed. However, the specific idiomatic meaning of being excused from blame or responsibility is not fully predictable from the parts and relies on conventionalized usage, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Let off the hook may come from fishing: when a fish comes off the hook, it is free, so to 'let someone off the hook' means to free them from blame or a difficult situation.