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Glite Dictionary
to come down to earth

to come down to earth

1 4.8
Start to think and act in a realistic way after being excited
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : volver a la realidad
  • The team was very excited about their project, but their manager urged them to come down to earth and consider the timeline for completion.

Examples

  • Will you come down to Earth?

    The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)

  • Oh, Sandy, come down to earth, will you?

    Meet Wally Sparks (1997)

  • Get off your high horse and come down to earth.

    Blog text (23)

  • "She came down to earth in a hurry.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • One of these things came down to earth, starving.

    Fire Serpent (2007)

  • Yeah, but come down to earth and walk into one of those meetings like that one in Cleveland, and what do you find?

    State of the Union (1948)

  • Why don't you come down to Earth, Pandora?

    Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

  • Cathy graciously helped me come down to earth and focus on exactly what I need to do next to test that my dinghy actually floats—i.e., that people will buy my product now, which means I have a viable business.

    Blog text (8)

  • After winning several awards, the director had to come down to earth and face the realities of the budget constraints.

  • Following his promotion, he needed to come down to earth and remember the challenges that come with the new role.

Synonyms

to come to one's senses
vsto come down to earth
  • Informal
46 4.4

Start thinking and acting in a sensible way again after being foolish or upset

occurs after being overly idealistic or excited rather than from foolish confusion
to sober up
vsto come down to earth
2 5.3

To start thinking and acting more sensibly after being careless

occurs after being overly idealistic or excited rather than after fantasizing
to lower one's sights
vsto come down to earth
  • Informal
1 6.9

Choose smaller goals that are easier to reach when big ones feel impossible

is about adopting practical realistic behaviour rather than reducing ambitions
to climb down from one's high horse
vsto come down to earth
  • Informal
1 8.5

To stop acting like you are better than other people

focuses on practical realistic behaviour rather than reducing arrogance

Antonyms

to get excited
112 1.0

To feel very eager and happy about something

Surface Forms

come down to earth infinitive
came down to earth past
come down to earth past participle
coming down to earth present participle
comes down to earth third person singular

Morphology

come + down + to + earth

The literal elements 'come' + 'down' + 'earth' transparently evoke moving from a higher/idealized state back to the ground, so learners can infer a sense of 'returning to reality.' However, the specific pragmatic meaning of behaving realistically after being idealistic is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable from the parts, even though many languages use a similar earth/ground metaphor.

Etymology

Come down to earth may come from the picture of someone high in the sky on a cloud or balloon, then coming down to the earth. That picture shows the move from dreams and excitement to being 'realistic' and 'practical', so the phrase means to act more sensibly.