English Reference

Idiom

knuckle under

Meaning

To cooperate or yield when forced or pressured to do so.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“The employees had to knuckle under to the new manager's strict rules.”

“After weeks of resisting the new policy, the staff finally had to knuckle under when the company threatened to cut their bonuses.”

“Faced with the overwhelming pressure of the board of directors, the CEO was forced to knuckle under and accept the terms of the unpopular merger.”

Examples

simple

“The employees had to knuckle under to the new manager's strict rules.”

contextual

“After weeks of resisting the new policy, the staff finally had to knuckle under when the company threatened to cut their bonuses.”

complex

“Faced with the overwhelming pressure of the board of directors, the CEO was forced to knuckle under and accept the terms of the unpopular merger.”

Key words

Related idioms

This entry

Updated
English Reference