ENGLISH
REFERENCE

go off into the weeds

idiom
Meaning

To go hopelessly astray.


Examples
SIMPLE

We often go off into the weeds during our meetings.

CONTEXTUAL

The project plan was clear until the team started to go off into the weeds with minor technical details.

COMPLEX

The professor warned the students not to go off into the weeds, urging them to keep their arguments focused on the primary thesis.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    all dressed up and nowhere to go

    Elaborately attired or otherwise fully prepared for an anticipated situation or activity which, nevertheless, fails to occur.

  2. 02

    all systems go

    Everything is ready.

  3. 03

    as you go

    While one is doing (something); as one progresses.

  4. 04

    boldly go where no man has gone before

    To break new ground.

  5. 05

    come and go

    To repeatedly appear and disappear; to be transient.

  6. 06

    don't go there

    Do not broach that topic.

  7. 07

    easy come, easy go

    Easily won and easily lost (usually said when resigned to a loss; something that comes in the same way, goes in the same way)

  8. 08

    enough to go around

    There is an adequate amount or supply of something for all of the people present or involved.

Last updated April 17, 2026