to follow the crowd
3
3.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
seguir a la multitud
- Stephanie seemed to be following the crowd.
- just follow the crowd
But if you continue just to follow the crowd, you will only go as far as the crowd.
- But if you continue just to follow the crowd, you will only go as far as the crowd.
- The book warns about market manipulation over trading, following the crowd and relying on tips from others.
- He he followed the crowd that liked what whatever, whatever got a good response at his rallies.
Examples
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The second one is, am I following the crowd, or am I discovering my tribe?
-
Beth and Tim exit the ride and follow the crowd toward the flashing lights of the police cruisers.
Fiction book (1995) -
But if you continue just to follow the crowd, you will only go as far as the crowd.
-
Most girls are trained to follow the crowd.
Blog text (28) -
My pals and I followed the crowd, feeling rather tired.
Fiction book (1993) -
Insights from behavioral economics suggest that people tend to follow the crowd when voting.
Blog text (10) -
If you are different anyway, you are automatically labeled as such, and thus if you do not follow the crowd, people will isolate you.
Blog text (28) -
We couldn't risk getting lost in those passageways, so we had to wait and follow the crowd into the arena.
Fiction book (1995) -
Unfortunately, my children and grandchildren are listening to the piper, humming the tune, and merrily following the crowd.
Blog text (8) -
Many people choose to follow the crowd instead of thinking for themselves.
Synonyms
20
5.0
To start doing something popular because many others do it, often to get an advantage
1
4.6
To agree with others, often in public
To copy someone without thinking and get into trouble
Antonyms
How Conformist
96
3.2
- Informal
3
3.2
∞
1.0
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to act or think in the same way as most other people' is directly derivable from combining 'follow' (go after) with 'the crowd' (a large group of people): a learner who knows those constituents can infer doing what the group does. This is a compositional, cross-linguistically common pattern rather than an idiosyncratic idiom, so a B1 learner will typically understand it without prior exposure.
Etymology
Follow the crowd shows the simple picture of a person who follows a crowd, walking the same way and copying what everyone else does. That's why it means 'to act or think like most other people without making your own decisions'.