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Glite Dictionary
to lift a finger

to lift a finger

27 5.1
To make no effort to help
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : mover un dedo
  • Where they came from does not care about them and wouldn't lift a finger to help them.
  • lift a finger to help
  • never lifted a finger
  • barely lifted a finger

They they would not, you know, lift a finger to save him.

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Examples

  • He's nothing but a crabby old man who's never lifted a finger for me in my whole life.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I don't have to lift a finger anymore.

    Lords of Dogtown (2005)

  • You think your president is going to lift a finger?

    Megalodon (2018)

  • Never lifted a finger to help.

    Footloose (2011)

  • When did they ever lift a finger to feed themselves?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The politicians, the business leaders, the news media... none of them lifted a finger until it was too late.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • I used to complain to the city, but they never lifted a finger.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • At this rate, I won't have to lift a finger.

    Abraham And Lincoln (2007)

  • "I feel sorry for you, but I won't lift a finger to help you," I said.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • You think your president is going to lift a finger?

Synonyms

to lend a hand
vsto lift a finger
  • Informal
28 1.3

To help someone with a task

avoids even the smallest effort to assist others
to lend a helping hand
vsto lift a finger
  • Informal
6 2.7

To give someone support with a task or problem

rarely makes even a small effort to assist others
to extend a hand
vsto lift a finger
  • Informal
5 2.9

To offer help or friendship by reaching out your hand to someone

avoids even minimal effort to help others

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

to neglect
256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

How Willing

to move heaven and earth
  • Informal
7 4.2
to go out of one's way
  • Informal
53 3.5
to try
∞ 1.0
to lift a finger
  • Informal
27 5.1
to do nothing
888 1.5

Surface Forms

lift a finger infinitive
lifted a finger past
lifted a finger past participle
lifting a finger present participle
lifts a finger third person singular

Morphology

lift + a + finger

The meaning 'to make even a small effort' is directly and predictably derived from combining 'lift' (to raise) with 'finger' (a minimal bodily action): lifting a finger evokes the smallest possible effort. This motivated metaphor is cross-linguistically common (e.g. French 'ne pas lever le petit doigt', Spanish 'no mover un dedo'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely infer the figurative sense.

Etymology

The phrase lift a finger comes from the tiny image of a person asked to do almost nothing — just to lift a finger — the smallest movement you can make. So when you say someone won't lift a finger, you mean they refuse 'to help' or to make even a little effort.