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to move heaven and earth

to move heaven and earth

7 4.2
Do everything you can to achieve something important
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : mover cielo y tierra
  • I moved heaven and earth to make sure my family could attend the wedding.
  • move heaven and earth to get
  • move heaven and earth to make
  • move heaven and earth to help

Examples

  • I moved heaven and earth to make this operation happen.

  • People move heaven and earth to see their kids.

  • We are going to move heaven and earth.

  • You would move heaven and earth, to save them.

  • I moved heaven and earth to get you out of there.

  • " Our administration will move heaven and earth to help them."

    Blog text (12)
  • I knew that moment I'd move heaven and earth to be with her.

  • I mean, your dad and I, when we had troubles, he moved heaven and earth to find me.

  • It's not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.

    Blog text (3)
  • Didn't she know, even yet, that he would move heaven and earth to keep her at his side?

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

to push
vsto move heaven and earth
731 1.5

To try hard to achieve something, especially against difficulty

implies pushing further, covering every possible action for hard aims
to strive
vsto move heaven and earth
156 3.7

To work very hard to reach a goal

is more about doing absolutely everything possible for that goal
to go out of one's way
vsto move heaven and earth
  • Informal
53 3.5

Make a special effort to do something, often to help someone

is broader, meaning to use all possible efforts for a major objective
to go all out
vsto move heaven and earth
39 4.1

To try as hard as you can with a lot of energy

is similar but highlights exhaustive effort for especially important aims
to push it
vsto move heaven and earth
  • Informal
39 5.3

To try very hard to do more than usual

focuses on using every possible measure rather than only exceeding norms
to go to great lengths
vsto move heaven and earth
26 4.1

Try very hard to make something happen

focuses on doing every possible thing for a difficult objective
to do what it takes
vsto move heaven and earth
18 4.8

Take any action needed to reach a goal, even when it is difficult

stresses making every possible effort especially for major goals
to try our best
vsto move heaven and earth
14 2.1

To make as much effort as you can to reach a goal

extends that idea to try every possible action for important aims
to spare no effort
vsto move heaven and earth
2 3.9

Do everything possible to achieve something

emphasizes doing all this specifically for a hard important aim
to put one's shoulder to the wheel
vsto move heaven and earth
  • Informal
2 7.5

To start working very hard to reach a goal

stresses doing every possible effort rather than simply starting hard work
to go to the ends of the earth
vsto move heaven and earth
1 5.9

To try very hard and do anything to achieve something

is the same exhaustive effort aimed at difficult or important goals
to strain every nerve
vsto move heaven and earth
  • Informal
1 7.2

Try as hard as possible to do something

covers that same extreme effort but for especially important tasks
to do one's damnedest
vsto move heaven and earth
  • NSFW
1 8.6

To try very hard to do something

means the same intense trying but for very difficult important goals

Antonyms

773 3.1

Leave someone or something behind permanently and without care

256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

How Hard

to move heaven and earth
  • Informal
7 4.2
to go all out
39 4.1
to strive
156 3.7
to try
1.0

Surface Forms

moved heaven and earth past participle
moving heaven and earth present participle
moves heaven and earth third person singular

Morphology

move + heaven + and + earth

The phrase uses hyperbolic, metaphorical imagery — literally 'move heaven and earth' — to signal doing something extreme, so a learner who knows the words could infer a sense of very great effort but not precisely that it means 'make every possible effort' in idiomatic usage. Because the meaning is metaphorical and conventionalized rather than strictly compositional (despite cross‑linguistic parallels), it is partially but not fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Move heaven and earth paints a picture of someone trying to lift the sky (heaven) and push the ground (earth) to reach a goal. Because this image shows doing everything possible, it now means 'to make every possible effort'.