# wait for the other shoe to drop

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/wait-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To defer action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved.

## Examples

- I am waiting for the other shoe to drop before I decide.
- The company announced small budget cuts, but we are all waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding layoffs.
- Although the initial negotiations concluded peacefully, the diplomats remained anxious, waiting for the other shoe to drop as the final treaty terms were revealed.

## Origin

The idiom is a product of late 19th and early 20th-century urban architecture, specifically the tenement housing of New York City and other industrial centres. These apartments were constructed with identical layouts, placing bedrooms directly above one another. The floors offered little in the way of acoustic privacy, ensuring that the nightly routine of a neighbour upstairs was shared with the occupant below. The experience became a matter of predictable timing. A resident would hear the first shoe hit the floor as their neighbour prepared for bed; the internal logic of the situation then dictated that a second sound must inevitably follow. One waited for the other shoe to drop simply because the alternative—a neighbour retiring for the night with one foot still shod—was a breach of the established order.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.