all mouth and trousers
- idiom
- UK
- He's just all mouth and trousers when it comes to making promises.
Examples
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His promises turned out to be all mouth and trousers when no results followed.
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Everyone thought he would help with the project, but he was all mouth and trousers.
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When it came to actually doing the work, she proved to be all mouth and trousers.
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Don't listen to her; she's all mouth and trousers!
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He always talks about how much he can lift, but he's just all mouth and trousers at the gym.
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She keeps boasting about her cooking skills, but when it comes to dinner, she's all mouth and trousers.
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Despite claiming he could run the marathon, his lack of training showed he was all mouth and trousers.
Synonyms
18
8.2
A person who talks too much and brags about themselves
4
7.7
A person who talks a lot about themselves to show off
1
8.1
A person who talks loudly and foolishly to get attention
1
9.0
A person who speaks loudly and brags, often saying things they should not
To talk a lot or make big promises but not do anything useful
A person who brags a lot and tells stories that are not true
A person who boasts in a loud, proud way
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The element 'mouth' gives a clear cue to talking, so part of the meaning (someone who talks a lot) is inferable, but 'trousers' does not transparently signal the contrast with action—the idiomatic contrast (all talk but no follow-through) is culturally encoded and not predictable from the constituents alone. This is a British, informal idiom where one constituent hints at the sense but the overall pragmatic meaning requires prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The idiom all mouth and trousers may come from the image of a person with a big mouth for talking and big trousers for show but no real substance inside. So it means someone who 'talks a lot' but 'does not deliver'.