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Glite Dictionary
to give enough rope

to give enough rope

8.7
Allow someone freedom to show ability or make mistakes that reveal their true character
  • idiom
  • Informal
: dar suficiente cuerda
  • The boss decided to give enough rope and see if the new hire could handle the project alone.

Examples

  • Sometimes, it's wise to give enough rope so people reveal their true intentions.

  • If you give enough rope, they will either succeed or fail.

  • They chose to give enough rope rather than intervene, hoping mistakes would become clear.

  • The manager decided to give enough rope to the new employee.

  • To fully assess her capabilities, the coach decided to give enough rope during training sessions.

  • The mentor chose to give enough rope to his students, allowing them to learn from their own mistakes.

  • If you give enough rope, your team will either thrive or show their limitations.

Synonyms

to give someone enough rope
vsto give enough rope
  • Informal
3 8.6

Let someone act freely until they make a mistake

allows freedom to show ability as well as risk causing their downfall

Antonyms

to control
∞ 2.4

To have power over people, things, or situations

to restrict
361 3.1

Limit how much people can use or access something

How Free

to give enough rope
  • Informal
8.7
to allow
∞ 1.0
to restrict
361 3.1

Surface Forms

give enough rope infinitive
gave enough rope past
given enough rope past participle
giving enough rope present participle
gives enough rope third person singular

Morphology

give + enough + rope

The sense 'allow someone enough freedom/opportunity so they may cause their own downfall' cannot be straightforwardly derived from the literal meanings of 'give' + 'enough' + 'rope'; it relies on an idiomatic allusion (to giving someone enough rope to hang themselves) that is culturally specific and not compositionally predictable. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words but has not seen the idiom is unlikely to infer this figurative sense, making it effectively non-compositional.

Etymology

The idiom give enough rope comes from the picture of handing someone a long rope so they have room to act and, by their own choices, make a big mistake or 'get into trouble'. That's why it now means to let someone have enough freedom to 'show their true intentions' or to cause their own failure.