Idiom
no strings attached
Meaning
Without conditions or obligations; without a catch.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You can borrow my car — no strings attached.”
“I will help you move your furniture, no strings attached.”
“They give away free coffee every Monday, no strings attached.”
“The company offered a free trial with no strings attached, so I decided to try it.”
“The local community center offers free computer classes with no strings attached to help residents find better jobs.”
“She accepted the scholarship because it was a pure gift with no strings attached regarding her future career.”
“He gave her the old piano, no strings attached, asking only that she play it sometimes and think of him.”
Examples
simple
“You can borrow my car — no strings attached.”
“I will help you move your furniture, no strings attached.”
“They give away free coffee every Monday, no strings attached.”
contextual
“The company offered a free trial with no strings attached, so I decided to try it.”
“The local community center offers free computer classes with no strings attached to help residents find better jobs.”
“She accepted the scholarship because it was a pure gift with no strings attached regarding her future career.”
complex
“He gave her the old piano, no strings attached, asking only that she play it sometimes and think of him.”
Origin
From the figurative use of strings to denote conditions or limitations, the idiom may have originated with a common street prank. A money purse would be placed upon the ground to entice a passerby, only to be jerked away by a concealed string when they attempted to retrieve it. While the story remains an unproven theory for the phrase, it suggests a transaction offered without such invisible tethering.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated