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Glite Dictionary
to pull a rabbit out of a hat

to pull a rabbit out of a hat

1 6.7
Find a surprising way to solve a problem at the last moment
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : sacar un conejo de la chistera
  • With the flourish of a magician about to pull a rabbit out of a hat, he dips his hand deeper into the bag.

Examples

  • When the team was losing hope, the coach found a way to pull a rabbit out of a hat and turn the game around.

  • How about pulling a rabbit out of a hat?

    Blog text (27)

  • Now that's pulling a rabbit out of a hat...

    Blog text (32)

  • At the last moment, she managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat and solve the crisis.

  • He always knows how to pull a rabbit out of a hat when things get tough.

Synonyms

to pull out of the hat
vsto pull a rabbit out of a hat
  • Informal
7.4

Produce a surprising idea that solves a difficult problem

does so specifically at the last possible moment

Antonyms

to give up
∞ 1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

to fail
898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

How Clever

to pull a rabbit out of a hat
  • Informal
1 6.7
to come up with
∞ 2.7
to think
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

pull a rabbit out of a hat infinitive

Morphology

pull + a + rabbit + out + of + a + hat

The phrase evokes the literal conjuring image of extracting a rabbit from a hat, so a learner who knows 'pull', 'rabbit', 'out', and 'hat' can infer that something surprising or unexpected was produced; however the conventionalized sense of producing an ingenious or last‑minute solution is a metaphorical extension that is not fully predictable from the parts. Because the connection to a magical trick is somewhat transparent but the specific pragmatic nuance (an ingenious or timely solution) requires cultural/idiomatic knowledge, this is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Pull a rabbit out of a hat comes from stage magicians who hide a rabbit in a hat and then pull it out to surprise the audience, so it now means 'to produce a surprising solution, often at the last moment'.