to think on your feet
8
6.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
pensar rápido
- You need to be able to think on your feet and use the props to your advantage.
- ability to think on your feet
- able to think on your feet
- good at thinking on your feet
It is fuelled so many ideas, the spontaneity of it, being able to think on your feet.
- It is fuelled so many ideas, the spontaneity of it, being able to think on your feet.
Examples
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You have to be able to think on your feet.
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As a teacher, it is essential to think on your feet when students ask unexpected questions.
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I wanted to see if you could think on your feet.
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When you are playing under pressure, you need to think on your feet to avoid losing any good opportunity.
Blog text (6) -
You learn how to think on your feet because you have to come up with a solution.
Blog text (5) -
And for a designer you have to be quick and you have to think on your feet.
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One of the best things about Mendez is watching him think on his feet.
Blog text (27) -
Listen, sometimes a quarterback has got to think on his feet and call an audible, okay?
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We want somebody who can get out amongst the people, hold a long form conversation without fear, and be able to think on your feet without a teleprompter.
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You're going to learn to improvise, think on your feet, develop moves that'll come in handy out there in the real world!
Synonyms
1
6.3
To stay alert and ready for anything that might happen
To stay alert and think quickly in difficult or unexpected situations
Antonyms
How Fast
- Informal
8
6.1
141
4.0
318
2.5
22
6.4
244
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a clear link between 'think' and the locative phrase 'on your feet' that evokes readiness or acting while standing, so some aspect of the meaning is derivable from the parts. However the specific sense 'to react quickly and effectively under pressure' is a figurative/metaphorical extension of 'on your feet' and not fully predictable from the literal words, so learners who know the constituents but haven't seen the phrase may not infer the exact meaning. Cross-linguistic analogues exist but vary, which supports a partial (not full) transparency.
Etymology
Think on your feet paints a picture of standing and having to act or answer while still on your feet. One popular image is of someone who must move and decide fast, so the phrase means to 'react quickly and do it well' under pressure.