Idiom
act of Congress
Meaning
An authorization that is extremely difficult to obtain, especially in a timely fashion.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Getting a refund from that company takes an act of Congress.”
“I needed to get the manager's signature, but it felt like an act of Congress just to find him.”
“Securing approval for the new building project required such extensive paperwork that it felt like an act of Congress to finally move forward.”
Examples
simple
“Getting a refund from that company takes an act of Congress.”
contextual
“I needed to get the manager's signature, but it felt like an act of Congress just to find him.”
complex
“Securing approval for the new building project required such extensive paperwork that it felt like an act of Congress to finally move forward.”
Origin
From the literal sense of act (“legislation”) enacted by US Congress.
Key words
Related idioms
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