ENGLISH
REFERENCE

pro tip

idiom
Meaning

A useful piece of advice.


Origin

first recorded 20th c.

Originally merely a sum of parts collocation (= professional tips), as for example in pro tips for solid joints [in woodworking] (Popular Science, March 1959), pro tips for hunting with a camera (Field & Stream, September 1978), and pro tips on the course or court from golf pros and tennis pros. In the era of videogaming, the camel case solidification as ProTip, a name for small pieces of gameplay advice used as screenshot captions in GamePro magazine, added a lexicalized dimension to yield a true compound. The advice in a hoax version of a ProTip for id Software's Doom ("To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies") was so comically obvious that it later became an Internet catchphrase.

Examples
SIMPLE

Here is a pro tip: always save your work often.

CONTEXTUAL

If you want to cook the perfect steak, my pro tip is to let the meat rest before cutting it.

COMPLEX

The seasoned traveler offered a valuable pro tip, suggesting that one should always pack a spare change of clothes in a carry-on bag to avoid disaster if luggage goes missing.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    arse over tip

    Tumbling or falling; upside-down.

  2. 02

    tip of the hat

    A gesture of acknowledgement; often, an expression of gratitude; originally by doffing one's hat.

  3. 03

    tip of the ice cube

    The first aspect of an insignificant or exaggerated problem or situation.

  4. 04

    tip of the iceberg

    A small indication of a larger possibility; the first part encountered of a problem that is much bigger than it seems.

  5. 05

    tip one's hat

    To acknowledge or show respect; to honor.

  6. 06

    tip the scale

    To change the fortunes, either positively or negatively.

  7. 07

    tip the scales

    To turn to one side of a balanced situation.

  8. 08

    tip the wink

    To give (somebody) a hint or suggestion, as if by a wink; to ask or tell surreptitiously.

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