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Glite Dictionary
to go through the motions

to go through the motions

26 5.0
To do something without real effort or interest because it is expected
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hacerlo por cumplir
  • She smiled and nodded, but it was clear that she was only going through the motions to avoid conflict.
  • just go through the motions
  • merely going through the motions

There is only going through the motions, a pretense of life.

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Examples

  • Is it my imagination or are you just going through the motions?

    Annie Hall (1977)

  • So too many people just go through the motions of living rather than really embrace life.

    Lex Fridman

  • Just know that they need to go through the motions of investigation.

    Wild Indian (2021)

  • To tell the truth, I was doing nothing more than going through the motions.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Most married people I know are just, you know, going through the motions.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Many carers find themselves just going through the motions, waiting for the day that they can stop and become donors.

    Never Let Me Go (2010)

  • You are going through the motions of being a dutiful wife.

    Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

  • The child who came home from school was a sullen little zombie, going through the motions of life.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Sweeney wondered why people bothered going through the motions of getting married.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Many employees feel like they are just going through the motions during the daily meetings without any real engagement.

Antonyms

to put out
3 5.0

Make a lot of effort to do something

How Enthusiastic

to dive in
  • Informal
23 3.7
to engage
676 3.4
to participate
866 2.5
to go through the motions
  • Informal
26 5.0

Surface Forms

go through the motions infinitive
went through the motions past
gone through the motions past participle
going through the motions present participle
goes through the motions third person singular

Morphology

go + through + the + motion

The phrase links the transparent sense of 'go through' (to perform or experience) with 'motions' (physical or formal steps), so a learner who knows the words could partly infer it means performing required actions. However, the pragmatic nuance — that these actions are done perfunctorily, without real effort or engagement — is an additional idiomatic layer that is not fully predictable from the parts, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Go through the motions paints the image of someone following a set of simple movements, doing each motion like steps in a dance or a list but without any feeling. So, it means 'to do something without real effort or enthusiasm'.