Meaning of make a meal of | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To spend more time and energy on some task than it warrants; to make something overly complicated; to make a big thing out of.
   idiomatic, transitive
2. To eat something as a meal.

Equivalents

Examples

“Some people can make a meal out of the simplest task. If you give it to a busy person, they don’t have time to muck around on the edges and worry about it — they’ll just do it.”

“They both looked good – I would have been happy with either version. There was no point in making a meal of the decision, so I just picked up the one which was nearest to me on the desk and said, ‘We’ll go with this one.’”

“page 131: And if he preferred Viva, fine. She wasn't going to make a meal of it or even give them the satisfaction of a scene. page 524: Make it quick and painless, she'd told herself, don't make a meal of it.”

“Ford's character is a bit one-note, and his gravelly intonation suggests a drunken poet more than a respected newsman, yet he makes a meal of the role all the same, and his pronunciation of the word "frittata" may well be the film's high point.”

“Don't walk near the tiger: it'll make a meal of you.”

CEFR level