to sow wild oats
- idiom
- NSFW
:
vivir la vida loca
- In her youth, she traveled the world to sow wild oats and experience life without restrictions.
Examples
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He decided to sow wild oats before settling down and starting a family.
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We all want to sow wild oats, but somebody's got to- got to-
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During college, many students choose to sow wild oats by traveling and exploring new relationships.
Synonyms
33
3.9
Act without control or limits
3
9.8
To have many short sexual relationships when young
Have many casual sexual relationships when young before settling down
Antonyms
How Reckless
33
3.9
- NSFW
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal constituents ('sow' + 'wild' + 'oats') describe an agricultural action (planting wild grains), so their surface meaning does not directly signal the idiomatic sense of sexual or reckless youthfulness. The phrase's meaning is historically and culturally conventionalized and not transparently derivable from the parts, so a B1 learner who knows the words would unlikely infer the idiomatic sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Sow wild oats may come from old farming. If a farmer sowed seeds and they grew as wild oats (useless weeds) outside his field, he had wasted the seed, and that image of wasting good chances is why the phrase means 'to behave in a reckless or carefree way', often while young.