English Reference
Idiom idiom

rattle through


To do something extremely quickly and perfunctorily.

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


SIMPLE

She had to rattle through her notes before the meeting started.

CONTEXTUAL

Because the presentation was running late, the speaker had to rattle through the final slides to finish on time.

COMPLEX

The professor chose to rattle through the complex historical timeline, prioritizing speed over the nuanced analysis that the students had expected.


Related idioms1entry
  1. 01

    rattle off

    To list or recite quickly.

Last updated August 10, 2026