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Glite Dictionary
to write checks you can't cash

to write checks you can't cash

1 9.5
To promise something you cannot do
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hacer promesas que no puedes cumplir
  • It's easy to write checks you can't cash in a negotiation when you're trying to impress someone.

Examples

  • Be careful not to write checks you can't cash when making promises about the project timeline.

  • Don't write checks you can't cash.

    Blog text (20)

  • You shouldn't write checks you can't cash by promising free services if you're not sure you can deliver them.

Synonyms

to break a promise
vsto write checks you can't cash
16 2.6

To fail to do what you said you would do

focuses on assuring others while lacking intent or ability to follow through
to welsh
vsto write checks you can't cash
  • Offensive
5 9.5

To fail to pay a debt or keep a promise after an agreement

is similar but applies often to debts and bets rather than all commitments
to welsh on
vsto write checks you can't cash
  • Offensive
4 9.9

To fail to keep a promise or pay a bet

is wider, including commitments that are not about money
to promise the moon
vsto write checks you can't cash
  • Informal
1 6.8

Tell someone you will do something very big although you cannot do it

is more about exaggeration and show than direct failure to meet commitments
to welsh out
vsto write checks you can't cash
  • Offensive
9.4

Fail to do something you promised, often by not paying what you owe

is broader, covering any made commitment one cannot or will not honor

Antonyms

to deliver
583 2.6

To give a speech, idea, or message to a group of people

to keep a promise
5 2.5

Do what you say you will do for someone

How Reliable

to write checks you can't cash
  • Informal
1 9.5

Surface Forms

write checks you can't cash infinitive
writing checks you can't cash present participle
writes checks you can't cash third person singular
wrote checks you can't cash past
written checks you can't cash past participle

Morphology

write + check + you + can't + cash

The phrase draws a metaphor from banking: 'write checks' (issue a payment order) and 'cash' (redeem for money), so a learner who knows those words can plausibly infer the sense of making promises one cannot fulfill. However the mapping is idiomatic and relies on cultural knowledge about checks as promissory instruments, so the relation is not fully predictable for all learners without prior exposure.

Etymology

The idiom write checks you can't cash comes from the bank image of writing a check for money you do not have. When someone tries to cash that check, the bank will not give the money, so it means making 'promises' you cannot keep.