idiom / phrasal verb · informal
get one's hands dirty
UK/ɡet wʌnz hændz ˈdɜːti/US/ɡɛt wʌnz hændz ˈdɜrti/get·ONE'S·hands·DIR·ty
to do practical or unpleasant work yourself rather than just planning or supervising
Examples
“If you want the project to succeed, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.”
“Managers who occasionally get their hands dirty earn more respect from staff.”
“She didn't mind getting her hands dirty in the laboratory to finish the experiment.”
Band 8 sentence
“In developing countries NGOs often have to get their hands dirty to implement policies effectively rather than only advising from afar.”
Collocations
- get one's hands dirty with practical tasks
- willing to get one's hands dirty
Word family
Common mistakes
get hands dirty→get one's hands dirty
get dirty hands→get one's hands dirty
Say it for a higher band
5help out→6pitch in→7+get one's hands dirty
Synonyms
pitch in
do the dirty work
Easily confused
do the dirty work
“He was willing to do the dirty work that no one else wanted to do.”
Related words
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