to lock into
22
5.8
- phrasal verb
- /lɑk ˈɪntu/
:
quedar atrapado en
- Therefore, many are locked into the opium economy for several years into the future.
- people locked into
- locked into certain
- locked into textbook language
The next step is that we all get locked into right versus wrong.
- The next step is that we all get locked into right versus wrong.
- Right from finding you, and that is you are too locked into your type.
- It is why are we locked into seemingly this course of events?
- The moment I get there that I sort of lock into a certain rule set.
- All of that means that your parent likely will always remain locked into these patterns.
- So that's just, you know, consumers tend to lock into the dominant product.
- So as a, as a, as a person who's not independent, you're locked into certain areas.
- Yeah, other approaches and to be locked into one way doesn't make you a bad person.
- But, you know, I when I'm locked into something like I'm going to do it.
- I think men are much more locked into junk values through no fault of their own.
- Now, it's not that there is things that are bad about this phone, it's just that they're so locked into this formula.
- And when you're locked into that, I want to save this.
Examples
-
By signing the contract, you lock into a long-term commitment with the company.
-
By doing so, you lock yourself into an agreement as follows.
-
People locked into a particular system find it difficult to switch to any other system.
Academic text (2011) -
Because people are locked into these low rates there in no rush to sell.
-
But we are still locked into the conservative approach of teaching already known information.
Academic text (2006) -
It's a mistake, in any case, to lock oneself into a set age too early in life.
Academic text (1997) -
I don't have to stay locked into the group anymore, Maria.
Fiction book (1991) -
Hospitals under public or voluntary control are quite literally locked into certain courses of action and precluded from others.
Academic text (1993) -
Herbert Butterfield writes of nations being locked into their own particular forms of national self-righteousness.
Academic text (1991) -
Once you accept the offer, you lock into this lease for the next year.
Synonyms
35
6.2
To restrain someone with chains or limit their freedom
24
6.3
Involve someone in a difficult situation they cannot easily get out of
8
4.7
To stop a person or thing from moving, acting freely and making choices
1
7.8
To leave someone with few or no good choices
1
9.5
To tie someone with chains or hold them under close control
Antonyms
How Trapped
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is transparently built from 'lock' (to secure or fix in place) plus 'into' (indicating placement or change into a state), so a learner who knows both words can infer being secured or confined within something (e.g., a contract). The metaphorical extension from physical locking to being bound by an arrangement is common and predictable across languages, making the expression immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Lock into may come from the picture of pushing something into a place and using a lock so it cannot move. That's why it now means being 'stuck' or tied to a plan, deal, or routine you cannot easily change.