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REFERENCE

road less traveled

idiom
Meaning

The less popular or less commonly taken option.


Origin

first recorded 20th c.

Popularized from one interpretation of Robert Frost's 1915 poem The Road Not Taken.

Examples
SIMPLE

She chose the road less traveled for her career.

CONTEXTUAL

Instead of following the crowd to the popular resort, we took the road less traveled and found a quiet, hidden beach.

COMPLEX

By rejecting the conventional path of corporate success to pursue his art, he chose the road less traveled, finding a deeper sense of purpose in the uncertainty.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bump in the road

    A setback or obstacle, especially one which is relatively minor.

  2. 02

    couldn't care less

    To not care at all; to have no interest or concern; to be apathetic.

  3. 03

    down the road, not across the street

    Of the technique for committing suicide, along the radial artery rather than across the wrist from side to side.

  4. 04

    frog

    [Cockney slang]road

  5. 05

    get the show on the road

    To begin or launch; to get going.

  6. 06

    go down that road

    To settle a way of doing something; do decide to do something in a particular way.

  7. 07

    go down the road

    To employ a way of doing something; to do something in a particular way.

  8. 08

    high road

    A course of action which is dignified, honourable, or respectable.

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