to dodge a bullet
22
6.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
salvarse por los pelos
- So, you know, we possibly dodged a bullet there with a lot of people in that area.
- I really dodged a bullet
- I just dodged a bullet
- I probably dodged a bullet
This is when you have to say I dodged a bullet.
- This is when you have to say I dodged a bullet.
- And he goes, maybe maybe I've dodged a bullet.
- And if it's this hard and this brutal, take it as you dodged a bullet and just move on.
- You actually dodged a bullet because this car had problems and you didn't really want that car.
Examples
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I think you dodged a bullet with that one.
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The Dolphins know they dodged a bullet by not signing him.
Blog text (26) -
So we we really dodged a bullet with this thing.
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I think we just dodged a bullet.
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Dude, you dodged a bullet, man.
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You probably dodged a bullet.
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Even though it is painful now, recognize that you dodged a bullet.
Blog text (1) -
You'll likely look back on this episode and realize that the company just dodged a bullet.
Blog text (31) -
In Suffield, where schools were set to reopen Wednesday, town officials also felt like they dodged a bullet.
Blog text (23) -
He really dodge a bullet when he decided not to invest in that failing company.
Antonyms
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
dodge + a + bullet
The literal meanings of 'dodge' (to avoid by moving) and 'bullet' (a dangerous projectile) make the figurative sense of narrowly avoiding danger fairly inferable via a straightforward metaphorical extension. However, the expression relies on that metaphorical shift from physical avoidance to escaping an unpleasant situation, so it is not fully compositionally predictable for all learners without some exposure.
Etymology
Dodge a bullet comes from the image of someone quickly moving aside to avoid a real bullet in a fight with guns, so they escape being hurt. That's why when we say someone 'dodged a bullet' we mean they 'avoided a serious problem'.