man on the street

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word man on the street. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word man on the street, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say man on the street in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word man on the street you have here. The definition of the word man on the street will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofman on the street, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

man on the street (plural men on the street)

  1. (idiomatic) An ordinary member of the general public, especially one who lacks special expertise.
    • 1919, Lee Meriwether, The War Diary of a Diplomat, Dodd, Mead and Company, page 173:
      Such was the airy way with which, not an illiterate man on the street, but a brilliant woman of the world disposed of a tremendous historical fact.
    • 2004, Steve Rushin, The Caddie Was a Reindeer: And Other Tales of Extreme Recreation, Atlantic Monthly Press,, →ISBN, page 214:
      "When do the Olympics begin?" a reporter from a Nagano television station asks me in a man-on-the-street interview.
    • 2005, Hisashi Nasu, “Between the Everyday Life-World and the World of Social Scientific Theory—Towards an “Adequate” Social Thory”, in Martin Endress, George Psathas, Hisashi Nasu, editors, Explorations of the Life-World: Continuing Dialogues with Alfred Schutz, Springer, →ISBN, page 136:
      It is not only the man on the street who is characterized by taking one's own system of relevance for granted. This holds true for the expert,....

Synonyms

Translations