man in the street
5
3.4
- idiom
- Literature
:
hombre de la calle
- And God bless the mind of the man in the street
- passed the man in the street
- see how the man in the street
- man in the street must feel
But you'd be hard pressed to, like, get the average man in the street to even tell you accurately which celebrities are Jewish.
- But you'd be hard pressed to, like, get the average man in the street to even tell you accurately which celebrities are Jewish.
Examples
-
Willis, not just from the scientific viewpoint, but from that of the man in the street.
Blog text (23) -
Most conversations with the proverbial man in the street, many of whom spoke English, would end in eye-popping surprise that the visitor was American.
Academic text (2002) -
We went to the man in the street to find out what he thinks.
-
"He has no feeling for the normal man in the street."
Blog text (17) -
Democracy is not understood even by our own teachers, let alone the man in the street.
Academic text (1995) -
Don't underestimate the man in the street, buddy.
-
During the next 20 years, the 3D printer will be the bogeyman affecting industries both far and wide and large and small, by giving the man in the street the ability to print physical objects as easily as he can print a family photo today.
Blog text (1) -
I'm amused that everyone, from the BLS to the most ignorant man in the street, quotes the U3 rate as the unemployment rate.
Blog text (25) -
Few scholars have studied the extent to which, in societies whose elites are proponents of Asian values, that position resonates with "the man in the street."
Academic text (2000) -
To understand public opinion, it's essential to listen to what the man in the street has to say.
Synonyms
30
2.0
An ordinary man without a title, rank, or special rights
16
5.4
An ordinary person who most people can identify with
12
4.5
A name used for an unknown man in legal or official papers
10
2.5
A regular man who stands for the average person
10
2.7
An ordinary person who is not an expert
2
4.8
A person who is like most everyday people
2
2.8
An ordinary woman who is not famous and says what many people think
1
6.3
A typical person who represents what most people think
1
1.4
A person who has no title and is an ordinary member of society
1
5.2
A typical person with no special skills or fame
1
6.1
An ordinary person who represents the public
1
4.1
An ordinary member of the public
A name for an ordinary man like a neighbour or friend
An average person used as a name to represent most people in Australia
A name people use for an ordinary, typical man
Antonyms
How Typical
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'man' + 'in' + 'the' + 'street' to mean 'a man who is on the street', and this literal image plausibly extends to the idea of an ordinary or average person. The representative, idiomatic reading is a pragmatic/metaphorical extension that is common across many languages and somewhat predictable, but it still requires inferencing beyond the straight lexical meanings, so a B1 learner may not reliably derive the non-literal sense without exposure.
Etymology
Man in the street comes from reporters stopping a man in the street to ask his view after big events. That simple picture of a regular person on the street explains why the phrase means 'an ordinary person' or 'the general public'.