the place to be
26
4.0
- idiom
- Informal
- If you're looking for nightlife, the downtown area is the place to be on Friday nights.
- the place to be on Saturday nights
- the place to be this weekend
- definitely the place to be
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Watch on YouTubeSo I mean, this is the place to be for meditation.
- So I mean, this is the place to be for meditation.
- Or is Silicon Valley still the place to be?
- But you know, honestly, man, like because of the podcast and the, the projects that we're working on, like this really is the place to be right now for us, right?
- It's so surreal because, like, when I was younger, I remember the Playboy Mansion was the place to be.
Examples
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Because Hong Kong is the place to be for people like us.
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With more than 10,000 members in 145 chapters, RWA is the place to be if you're serious about writing and publishing romance fiction.
Academic text (2010) -
Tonight is the place to be
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Right now is the place to be
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All the travel agents say this is the place to be this year.
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This is the place to be.
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It's the place to be on Christmas Eve.
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They tell me this is the place to be
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For young Angolan men and women, the clubs were the place to be.
Academic text (2004) -
If you're looking for the best seat, I hear the front row is the place to be.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
50
1.1
A place that someone likes more than other places
14
3.7
A popular place where people go to have fun at night
7
2.7
A place that many people visit, especially tourists
6
1.5
A place that many people like to visit
5
3.7
A very good place in a town where people want to live or work
2
2.4
A place in an area that local people like to visit
1
4.1
A place people prefer for a certain activity
Antonyms
- Informal
2
8.7
A place believed to be for punishment after death or a very bad situation
How Desirable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The core idea — a place where one should be or that people are at — can be deduced from 'place' + 'to be', so a learner who knows the words will grasp a general locational/recommendatory sense. However, the specific nuance 'the most desirable or popular location' is a pragmatic, idiomatic extension (the evaluative/popularity meaning is not strictly compositional), so full understanding often requires prior exposure.
Etymology
The place to be comes from the image of a spot where everyone wants to go, full of people talking, laughing and having fun. That's why it means 'the most popular place'.