over someone's skis
- idiom
- Informal
:
fuera de su alcance
- After accepting the promotion, he quickly realized he was over his skis with all the new responsibilities.
Examples
-
They found themselves over their skis when the funding ran out sooner than expected.
-
I'm definitely over my skis trying to manage this complex project alone.
-
Don't feel over your skis!
-
He felt over his skis during the presentation!
-
After accepting the promotion, he quickly realized he was over his skis with all the new responsibilities.
-
I'm definitely over my skis trying to manage this complex project alone.
-
They found themselves over their skis when the funding ran out sooner than expected.
Synonyms
8
7.8
Cannot deal with a new or difficult situation
3
7.6
Very busy with difficult work or problems and almost overwhelmed
1
7.8
Put suddenly into a difficult situation without preparation or help
Surprised and not ready to deal with a sudden problem
Antonyms
How Overwhelmed
- Informal
1
6.4
- Informal
- Informal
1
7.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal parts ('over' + 'someone's' + 'skis') do not transparently combine to mean 'out of one's depth'—knowing the words would more likely evoke a physical image with skis rather than the idiomatic sense. The expression relies on a culture-specific skiing metaphor and is not a regular compositional pattern in many languages, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would unlikely derive the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
The idiom over someone's skis may come from skiing: if you lean too far forward you go over your skis and lose your balance. So when someone is over their skis, it means they are 'out of their depth' or overwhelmed by a job or situation.