to press the right buttons
1
6.0
- idiom
- Informal
- Whenever I’m upset, my friend always manages to press the right buttons to cheer me up.
Examples
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She knew exactly how to press the right buttons to get what she wanted from her boss.
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Politicians often try to press the right buttons to win voters’ support.
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You need to press the right buttons to get her attention.
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Did he press the right buttons during the meeting?
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Politicians often try to press the right buttons to win voters’ support.
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She knew exactly how to press the right buttons to get what she wanted from her boss.
-
Whenever I’m upset, my friend always manages to press the right buttons to cheer me up.
Synonyms
124
4.1
Make people feel excited and ready to act
53
4.1
Cause a feeling or strong reaction in people
24
4.4
Make people feel a strong connection when it seems familiar
12
8.2
To strongly attract or excite someone
4
5.5
To make someone feel excited about something
2
5.8
To make a person feel a strong emotion
1
6.0
To make someone feel strong excitement or deep emotion
1
6.0
To make someone feel very excited, often suddenly
Antonyms
How Effective
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a metaphorical extension of the literal idea that pressing buttons produces a response, so learners who know 'press', 'right' and 'button' can partly infer that it means eliciting a desired reaction. However, the figurative mapping from physical action to manipulating emotions/behaviour is not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Press the right buttons may come from the simple image of a machine: if you press the right buttons, it does exactly what you want. That's why the phrase now means 'to do or say things that make someone react the way you want'.