line drawn on water
- idiom
- Informal
:
línea dibujada en el agua
- The agreement was nothing more than a line drawn on water, impossible to enforce.
Examples
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To trust his promises was like relying on a line drawn on water.
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Their temporary alliance proved to be a line drawn on water, quickly falling apart.
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Their promises are just a line drawn on water.
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The company's plans feel like a line drawn on water.
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The agreement was nothing more than a line drawn on water, impossible to enforce.
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Their temporary alliance proved to be a line drawn on water, quickly falling apart.
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To trust his promises was like relying on a line drawn on water.
Synonyms
Something that looks strong but is weak and cannot be trusted
Antonyms
How Stable
- Informal
12
5.1
- Informal
- Informal
1
8.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The image of a 'line drawn on water' evokes an immediately obvious literal impossibility — a line on water would not hold and would quickly disappear — so the metaphor of impermanence or unreliability is directly derivable from the constituent words. This simple, grounded metaphor is cross-linguistically natural and therefore a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings can reasonably infer the idiomatic sense.
Etymology
Line drawn on water comes from the simple image of drawing a line on water, which disappears at once. So it means 'not lasting' or 'not to be trusted'.