How to Use go through the motions in a Sentence

go through the motions

idiom

• Look at the first month, and go through the motions and the process.
  — Roger Lockridge, Men's Health, 2 May 2022
• Maybe the Red Sox won’t just go through the motions for the final month of the season.
  — Andrew Mahoney, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Sep. 2022
• Try to get better on those days and not just go through the motions and learn the game plan.
  — Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Nov. 2022
• Look at the steps and go through the motions before alerting the family of any change.
  — Meghan Leahy, Washington Post, 29 June 2022
• There are lifeguards that go through the motions, failing to see how the job can be approached.
  — Michael Bernick, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2021
• Tina made sure that Ifeatu didn’t just go through the motions in the classroom at Syracuse.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 20 Apr. 2021
• Try this: Close your eyes, grip an imaginary steering wheel, and go through the motions of a lane change.
  — David Eagleman, Discover Magazine, 27 Oct. 2011
• To force yourself to go through the motions of daily life without caring about most of them.
  — Nicole Chung, Harper's BAZAAR, 26 Apr. 2023
• After a long day of not getting anywhere, the sides agree to get back to the table the following day, and then go through the motions again.
  — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 25 Feb. 2022
• Florida could go through the motions Saturday and come away with a win.
  — Edgar Thompson, orlandosentinel.com, 8 Oct. 2021
• For all the wrong reasons, far fewer people will have to go through the motions of pretending to be busy when the ball is tipped Monday.
  — Eddie Pells, Star Tribune, 22 Mar. 2021
• In essence, go through the motions, complete with wiggle breaks, scavenger hunts, skits, walks, games, anything that helps get kids out of their chairs and into learning.
  — David Noyce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 June 2021
• Fudd, a big-time recruit whose decision to play at UConn elicited the same level of hype as Paige Bueckers, didn’t just go through the motions in her return.
  — Alexa Philippou, courant.com, 27 Jan. 2022
• So many people mindlessly go through the motions each day with the passiveness of a sleepwalker.
  — Yec, Forbes, 3 June 2021
• For long stretches, Wiggins appeared to go through the motions, jogging down-court and missing defensive reads.
  — Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Oct. 2021
• But because the strategy was useful in a South Korean context our politicians go through the motions here.
  — WSJ, 1 Jan. 2021
• Otherwise, your employee survivors may go through the motions, less productive and less willing to give their all.
  — Anchorage Daily News, 13 Apr. 2021
• The twins’ mother, who watched Claude go through the motions of the process for years, experienced that too and chose to remove herself from their process altogether after facing some of the lies and darker sides of it.
  — Dallas News, 27 Jan. 2023
• Martin understands celebrities often go through the motions to repair their image after a fall.
  — Jenna Fryer, Star Tribune, 20 Aug. 2020
• Rather than go through the motions, singer Joe Elliott and company addressed the songs like anthems deserve to be treated — with chords that rang out for miles, rousing lead vocals, driving harmonies, tight rhythms and clean, vibrant sonics.
  — Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2022
• In the Beirut of today, people go through the motions and the energy that once made the city vibrant has dissipated continuously since the start of a financial catastrophe that began in October 2019.
  — Arwa Damon, CNN, 30 Dec. 2021
• Its leaders go through the motions of governing in pursuit of traditional Republican goals.
  — NBC News, 26 Sep. 2021
• There was a network of blogs written by people who no longer believed but continued to go through the motions; some called themselves Reverse Marranos, for the Jews in medieval Spain who faked renouncing their religion in order to survive.
  — Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
• In going down 1-0, the Suns looked lazy and confused, getting out-hustled and outexecuted by a Clippers squad that had every excuse to simply go through the motions, rather than seriously compete.
  — Azcentral Sports, The Arizona Republic, 19 Apr. 2023
• The Iranian players had tested their limits in Qatar, declining to sing their national anthem before their opening game, only to adjust, days later, and appear to grudgingly go through the motions before a match against Wales.
  — Andrew Das, New York Times, 29 Nov. 2022
• The country’s recent poll should be viewed in the context of flawed democracies that go through the motions of political contestation without fully embracing freedom, fairness, and transparency.
  — David E Kiwuwa, Quartz Africa, 4 Nov. 2020

Last Updated: 24 Jul 2024