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Glite Dictionary
to peel the onion

to peel the onion

1 7.6
Carefully look at a problem step by step to find its real cause
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : analizar a fondo
  • And I like peeling back the onion a bit so that people have to say, well, I hadn't really thought about deeper motivations or whatever.

And I like peeling back the onion a bit so that people have to say, well, I hadn't really thought about deeper motivations or whatever.

Examples

  • In her research, she had to peel the onion to reveal the underlying causes of the social issue.

  • But if you keep going and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.

    Blog text (13)

  • I was lucky enough to find three therapists who helped me 'peel the onion' to get to the core of the problem.

    Blog text (6)

  • I'll show you about in a minute as we start peeling the systems engineering onion of getting down into the details and deployable play loads.

  • Well, you know, my wee thing about peel it, you know, feel it and heal it, peeling back the layers of the onion to what was she like?

  • To truly understand the situation, we need to peel the onion and look at each issue individually.

  • The detective decided to peel the onion to uncover the motive behind the crime.

Synonyms

to dig deep
vsto peel the onion
43 4.4

Search carefully to find hidden facts or details

aims to expose layers one at a time instead of only searching deeply
to unpeel
vsto peel the onion
1 6.8

To reveal hidden parts slowly by taking away layers

is the common idiom using a vivid layer image
to scratch beneath the surface
vsto peel the onion
  • UK
1 5.7

To look below the surface to find the real reasons

works layer by layer rather than a single deeper look
to unpick
vsto peel the onion
1 6.6

To study a difficult problem carefully to understand or solve it

focuses on uncovering successive layers rather than disassembling parts
to plumb the depth
vsto peel the onion
7.9

To examine something carefully to find hidden details

proceeds by exposing layers one by one instead of full depth at once

Antonyms

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Thorough

to peel the onion
  • Informal
1 7.6
to probe
  • Literature
35 5.1
to analyze
  • US
675 3.2
to examine
868 2.5
to glance at
150 2.0

Surface Forms

peel the onion infinitive
peeled the onion past
peeled the onion past participle
peeling the onion present participle
peels the onion third person singular

Morphology

peel + the + onion

The phrase maps a literal action (peel) onto a layered object (onion) to mean uncovering layers of a problem, so a learner who knows both words can plausibly infer the metaphorical sense. However, this is a figurative extension rather than a direct compositional meaning, and the precise pragmatic use (stepwise analysis) may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Peel the onion comes from the image of the words peel and onion: when you remove each thin layer of a real onion you get closer to the center. That's why the phrase means 'to examine something layer by layer'.