to see what sticks
2
7.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
ver qué funciona
- Of course, there are lawyers who figure they should throw everything they can against the wall and see what sticks.
- wall to see what sticks
- out there and see what sticks
- there and see what sticks
Let me put out some candidate questions out there and see what sticks.
- Let me put out some candidate questions out there and see what sticks.
- And so I approached the diagnosis from a perspective of I'm going to try everything and see what sticks.
- The Apple way is more sit back, take a take the landscape in, see what sticks around for a while and starts to become an obvious benefit.
- There's a lot that like, you know, we just try stuff and, you know, throw ideas to a wall and see what sticks.
- So much of you know, YouTube and the social media world is trial and error and it's just throwing it up there seeing what sticks.
- But see, most of the patients that I saw had been, a lot of them felt like one of those Velcro people, you know, where they, you, you throw things at them to see what sticks, right?
Examples
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Quality already suffers from the current "let's throw a bunch of shows against the wall and see what sticks" mentality and the idea that one project isn't enough anymore.
Blog text (28) -
Again—throwing it against the wall to see what sticks.
Blog text (5) -
Throw ten records against the wall and see what sticks.
Blog text (10) -
This is me throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.
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The MO for now is basically throwing the site against a web wall and seeing what sticks.
Blog text (3) -
Meanwhile, I'm spinning content to try to see what sticks.
Blog text (9) -
Better to blog when you have something really substantial and solid to offer than just throwing something out and seeing what sticks.
Blog text (21) -
I think that if you're in, if you're still in the process of throwing things out there to see what sticks, that means that you're searching for something.
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Let's try different marketing strategies and see what sticks.
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In this brainstorming session, we will explore new ideas and see what sticks.
Synonyms
Try many different ideas to find one that works
To try many different ideas to find one that works
Try many different ideas to see which one works
Antonyms
How Experimental
Surface Forms
Morphology
The words 'see' and 'what' are literal, but 'stick' is used metaphorically (from 'adhere' to 'remain/effective'), so the overall sense 'try things to find which ones work' can be partially inferred from the constituents. Because the key leap—mapping physical sticking to effectiveness—is a common but extended metaphor, learners may guess the general idea but would not reliably predict the precise pragmatic nuance without prior exposure.
Etymology
See what sticks comes from the simple image of trying small ideas against a sticky surface and watching which ones stick. So it means to try different ideas to find which ones 'work' or are 'successful'.