Idiom
get one's foot in the door
Meaning
To initiate contact or a relationship; to gain access, especially to an entry-level job.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He took an internship to get his foot in the door.”
“You often need a personal connection to get your foot in the door.”
“She accepted a low-level position at the company just to get her foot in the door.”
“I decided to work as a freelance writer for their blog to get my foot in the door before applying for a full-time editor role.”
“The young actor agreed to play a very small part in the play just to get his foot in the door at the famous theater.”
“By volunteering for the small project, he managed to get his foot in the door of a highly competitive industry.”
Examples
simple
“He took an internship to get his foot in the door.”
“You often need a personal connection to get your foot in the door.”
contextual
“She accepted a low-level position at the company just to get her foot in the door.”
“I decided to work as a freelance writer for their blog to get my foot in the door before applying for a full-time editor role.”
“The young actor agreed to play a very small part in the play just to get his foot in the door at the famous theater.”
complex
“By volunteering for the small project, he managed to get his foot in the door of a highly competitive industry.”
Origin
The idiom is probably derived from a tactic attributed to door-to-door salesmen, who were said to place a foot in the opening of a prospective customer's door. This physical obstruction prevented the resident from closing the door until the sales pitch had reached its conclusion. While the story remains a popular explanation for the phrase, it is an unproven attribution rather than a settled historical fact.
Key words
Related idioms
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