Idiom
try it on
Meaning
To test someone to see how much bad behaviour they will tolerate; to try to deceive someone to see how gullible they are.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He is trying it on by asking for a huge discount.”
“The employee arrived an hour late again, clearly trying it on to see if the manager would notice.”
“By demanding an extension on the project deadline, the student was trying it on, hoping the professor would overlook the lack of effort.”
Examples
simple
“He is trying it on by asking for a huge discount.”
contextual
“The employee arrived an hour late again, clearly trying it on to see if the manager would notice.”
complex
“By demanding an extension on the project deadline, the student was trying it on, hoping the professor would overlook the lack of effort.”
Key words
Related idioms
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