idiom · neutral
get the ball rolling
UK/ɡet ðə bɔːl ˈrəʊlɪŋ/US/ɡet ðə bɔl ˈroʊlɪŋ/GET·the·BALL·rolling
to start something, especially a project, discussion, or process
Examples
“Let's get the ball rolling on the group project by assigning tasks.”
“The teacher got the ball rolling with a short presentation.”
“We need someone to get the ball rolling; otherwise nothing will happen.”
Band 8 sentence
“To get the ball rolling on our research, we convened a kickoff meeting and assigned roles.”
Collocations
- get the ball rolling on a project
- get the ball rolling with a meeting
Word family
Common mistakes
We should get ball rolling on this.→We should get the ball rolling on this.
Let's start the ball rolling.→Let's get the ball rolling.
Say it for a higher band
5start→6begin→7+get the ball rolling
Synonyms
kick things off
Easily confused
kick things off
“We kicked things off with a short speech, and that helped get the ball rolling.”
Related words
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In Study
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