fish out of water
A person in unfamiliar and often uncomfortable surroundings.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“At the fancy party, I felt like a fish out of water.”
“You look like a fish out of water in that kitchen.”
“She feels like a fish out of water at the new gym.”
“Being a country boy in the big city, he often felt like a fish out of water.”
“When the athlete tried to join the quiet book club, he felt like a fish out of water among the scholars.”
“The experienced mechanic felt like a fish out of water when he had to work in the modern software office.”
“Thrown into the corporate world after years of teaching, she wandered through the glass-walled offices like a fish out of water, unsure how to speak or dress.”
first recorded 16th c.
* Earliest recorded uses: "fish out of the water" (1585, Lamentable Complaint of Commonality), "Fishes out of the Water" (1613, Samuel Purchas, Pilgrimage). * Earliest use of metaphor by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue (c. 1405) as "fissh þᵗ is waterlees". Compare also the antonymous French comme un poisson dans l'eau, German wie ein Fisch im Wasser.
- 01
big fish
An important person.
- 02
big fish in a small pond
One who has achieved a high rank or is highly esteemed, but only in a small, relatively unimportant, or little known location or organization.
- 03
bigger fish to fry
A much more pressing issue to attend to.
- 04
blood in the water
In a competitive situation, the exhibition of apparent weakness or vulnerability by one party, especially when this leads to a feeling of vulnerability or greater pressure to perform on the part of the weak party, or enhanced expectation of victory by the others.
- 05
blood is thicker than water
Family relations and loyalties are stronger than relationships with people who are not family members.
- 06
blow out of the water
To trounce; to defeat thoroughly, as at a game or in battle.
- 07
carbonated water
Water that contains carbon dioxide dissolved in it under pressure and is intended for drinking.
- 08
carry someone's water
To do someone's bidding; to serve someone's interests.
Last updated August 10, 2026