Meaning of on the nose | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Exact; precise; appropriate.
   idiomatic
2. Unimaginative; over-literal; lacking nuance.
   idiomatic
3. Smelly, malodorous.
   Australia, figuratively, often, slang
4. Being a bet on a horse to finish first.
   slang
5. On the lookout.
   obsolete, slang
6. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see on, nose.

Equivalents

Examples

“His estimate⟳ that they would consume⟳ 23 boxes was on the nose.”

“His choice of decor was on the nose, considering the theme of the party.”

“Boy, are those people getting bargains. Let's see⟳ . . . the child population is just about average for the city, on the nose.”

““I think⟳ the part of me that is sensible, the part that's most on the nose about making decisions about how and what to write⟳, is the part which wants to continue⟳ working toward the Turgenev model⟳ in fiction. Which is simply based on the idea that novels have⟳ to be extremely efficient to survive⟳.[…]””

“In the last⟳ three or four years of the series, with the active and very enthusiastic support⟳ of the producers and writers, we did go much more on the nose with political issues.”

“[Lawrence:] [At the audition,] it was me and five or six women with the large breasts, the short skirts, the hair and makeup. They were just much more on the nose, in terms of what someone who was sexually voracious would look⟳ like⟳. I was in a sweater and slacks, hiding the sexuality.”

“It's best to underplay such moments. In Dickens's time a bit more on-the-nose writing was acceptable. Don't overdo it, or you may lapse into melodrama.”

“After Hours, originally named the more on the nose, A Night in Soho, was financed by Fox Classics for $3.5 million and scheduled for a forty-night shoot⟳, and a postproduction period of around four months.”

“She cut⟳ me off. ‘So you're just wandering around, are you? Showing them to everyone just for the sake of it?’ She laughed a little. No one had spoken to me like⟳ this before; she was bang on the nose.”

“In particular Miguel/Guy forces Christina/Mia to swallow⟳ bad-tasting food before a dining hall full of onlookers. The double⟳ meaning is much more on-the-nose in the remake⟳ since Guy actually says “swallow⟳ it for once in your life,” to his put-upon spouse.”

““He is well on the nose. Seriously, he is our best chance,” one senior Labor figure⟳ says.”

“Wearing that floral dress to a garden party was a little on the nose, wouldn't you say⟳?”

“Susan: Barbara, I really like⟳ these red Christmas bulbs. Barbara: You think⟳ next year we should do the whole Christmas tree in them? Susan: Don't you think⟳ that's a bit on the nose?”

“Although the show⟳ gradually grows more subtle, much of the early writing that establishes the characters is so on the nose it hurts. Any time we see⟳ Walt in class, it’s certain that what he writes on the chalkboard will echo events in his secret life.”

“The song is sumptuously introspective, but on first impression it's a bit too on the nose.”

“[…]these days there is a long tradition of ships named Warspite, most famously the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, but when you actually look⟳ at the etymology of the name⟳, it is literally "war's spite", the spite of war, which, again, is, um, a little bit on the nose for a ship full of nuclear death.”

“And even in ordinary times, conspicuous consumption violates the principle of detachment. New Money signals lack plausible deniability; they're too much on the nose.”

“Unfortunately, [Cormac McCarthy] won’t win⟳ because of the ammoniac mist rising up from the marsh in the inexplicable darkness, the jagged, sepulchral mountains stabbing the horizon, and also because the lead⟳ characters of his new books are named Bobby and Alicia Western—simply too on the nose.”

“Perhaps we should be thanking La Vie. By producing something entirely too on the nose, they’ve shown green consumerism for the utterly uninspiring vision it presents: not only totally inadequate for stopping climate change⟳, but a modified version of the same crap we’ve been eating for years.”

“That bucket of raw prawns you left in the sun is a bit on the nose.”

“Now the process⟳ has been reversed; it is doubtful if there has ever been a time when politicians and politics have⟳ been more on the nose than the period of the first Fraser government, and this is not only unfunny, but unhealthy.”

“Dog was so stupid he didn't realise⟳ the man was very on the nose. Larry smelt good to him, most times, ripe and earthy.”

“Conservatism was on the nose with voters and if Liberals were to regain⟳ government, the party must swing⟳ smoothly to the left on a range of social issues.”

“It was three o'clock. They were running the third race⟳ at Santa Anita and he had ten bucks on the nose.”

“I once knew a fag dip into the till—not the whole two thousand at once on the nose win⟳ or Sing⟳ Sing⟳.[…]”

CEFR level