idiom · neutral
put one's nose to the grindstone
UK/ˌpʊt wʌnz ˈnəʊz tə ðə ˈgraɪndstəʊn/US/ˌpʊt wʌnz ˈnoʊz tə ðə ˈgraɪndˌstoʊn/put·one's·nose·to·the·GRIND·stone
to work or study very hard and without stopping for a period of time
Examples
“With finals next week, I had to put my nose to the grindstone and revise every evening.”
“If you really put your nose to the grindstone this term, you'll improve your grades.”
“He put his nose to the grindstone and stopped going out so he could finish the dissertation.”
Band 8 sentence
“I had to put my nose to the grindstone for months to secure a place at my first-choice university.”
Collocations
- put one's nose to the grindstone + to/and + verb
- really put one's nose to the grindstone
- have to put one's nose to the grindstone
Word family
Common mistakes
put nose to the grindstone→put one's nose to the grindstone
put my nose in the grindstone→put my nose to the grindstone
Say it for a higher band
5study hard→6work hard→7+put one's nose to the grindstone
Synonyms
buckle down
work one's socks off
Easily confused
work one's socks off
“She worked her socks off to finish the project on time.”
buckle down
“He finally buckled down and started revising for the exams.”
Related words
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In Study
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