idiom · neutral
spread oneself too thin
UK/sprɛd wʌnˈsɛlf tuː θɪn/US/sprɛd wʌnˈsɛlf tu θɪn/SPREAD·one·SELF·too·THIN
to try to do too many things at once so that you cannot do any of them effectively.
Examples
“She spread herself too thin with clubs and courses and ended up failing some classes.”
“Don't spread yourself too thin — focus on two main subjects this semester.”
“Students often spread themselves too thin by juggling part-time jobs and a heavy course load.”
Band 8 sentence
“Many students spread themselves too thin by joining every society and taking extra modules, which harms their core studies.”
Collocations
- spread oneself too thin with (activities/commitments)
Word family
Common mistakes
spread yourself too thin (but used in 2nd person only)→spread oneself too thin / spread yourself too thin
spread myself thin→spread myself too thin
Say it for a higher band
5do too much→6take on too many tasks→7+spread oneself too thin
Synonyms
bite off more than you can chew
Easily confused
bite off more than you can chew
“He bit off more than he could chew when he accepted five projects at once.”
Related words
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In Study
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