Idiom
put the toothpaste back in the tube
Meaning
To revert a situation; to put things back as they were before something (usually an unwelcome thing) became a reality.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Once the secret is out, you cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
“The company released the controversial update, but they soon realized they could not put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
“After the scandal damaged the politician's reputation, his team realized that they could not put the toothpaste back in the tube, regardless of how many apologies they issued.”
Examples
simple
“Once the secret is out, you cannot put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
contextual
“The company released the controversial update, but they soon realized they could not put the toothpaste back in the tube.”
complex
“After the scandal damaged the politician's reputation, his team realized that they could not put the toothpaste back in the tube, regardless of how many apologies they issued.”
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated