Idiom
that's the thing
Meaning
Used to seize on a point and highlight its comparative importance, especially as a refutation or negation to a statement made by another speaker.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You want to go out, but that's the thing: I have no money.”
“Everyone thinks the new project will be easy, but that's the thing; we lack the necessary tools to finish it on time.”
“While the committee argues that the policy change is purely administrative, that's the thing—the underlying shift in power dynamics will fundamentally alter our long-term strategy.”
Examples
simple
“You want to go out, but that's the thing: I have no money.”
contextual
“Everyone thinks the new project will be easy, but that's the thing; we lack the necessary tools to finish it on time.”
complex
“While the committee argues that the policy change is purely administrative, that's the thing—the underlying shift in power dynamics will fundamentally alter our long-term strategy.”
Key words
Related idioms
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