Have feet of clay idiom meaning

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Have feet of clay idiom meaning

Log In. My Account. Danielle McLeod. Danielle McLeod is a highly qualified secondary English Language Arts Instructor who brings a diverse educational background to her classroom. With degrees in science, English, and literacy, she has worked to create cross-curricular materials to bridge learning gaps and help students focus on effective writing and speech techniques. Currently working as a dual credit technical writing instructor at a Career and Technical Education Center, her curriculum development surrounds student focus on effective communication for future career choices. Idioms are excellent ways to add analogy, allusion, or even symbolism to your speech and writing. They are figurative words and phrases that often relate to a literal meaning but occasionally create confusion due to their origins. Feet of clay is an idiom that is poorly understood and often used incorrectly. It originated as an allusion in a Bible verse with no known literal meaning, confusing anyone unfamiliar with this origin. I explain what feet of clay means below, as well as how it should be used in a modern context. Feet of clay is an idiom that roughly translates as a fatal flaw, a negative characteristic, our ruinous attribute that is hidden in an otherwise admirable human being. The expression feet of clay is usually applied to someone who seems to be a paragon of virtue or is exceptionally prominent or well-thought-of in the community.

For example, many literary analyses of 19th-century novels point out the consistent use of flawed characters, describing them as having feet of clay.

Feet of clay is an idiom that refers to a weakness or character flaw , especially in people of prominence and power. An entity with feet of clay may appear powerful and unstoppable, but they cannot support their splendor, and will easily be knocked over. The phrase originates from the Book of Daniel in the Bible. In it, Daniel interprets a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In that dream, a magnificent statue is seen with a head of gold, but weaker and less valuable metals beneath, until finally having feet of clay mixed with iron.

The phrase originated in the Bible. I know it's hard to believe, but anyone you admire surely has feet of clay. See also: clay , feet , have , of. Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. All human beings have feet of clay. No one is perfect. Sally was popular and successful. She was nearly fifty before she learned that she, too, had feet of clay.

Have feet of clay idiom meaning

Have feet of clay formal phrase. Used to describe a situation in which people criticize and blame someone else for a fault, mistake or weakness that they also have themselves. Do you see anything wrong? Submit An Idiom. Subscribe Now.

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They are figurative words and phrases that often relate to a literal meaning but occasionally create confusion due to their origins. Amaze your friends with your new-found knowledge! Secondary School. We have almost lists of words from topics as varied as types of butterflies, jackets, currencies, vegetables and knots! German to English. German images. Feet of clay is an idiom that refers to a weakness or character flaw , especially in people of prominence and power. The last thing I should promise would be to "improve" mankind. The author of the Book of Daniel wanted to reassure readers that the end of Antiochus IV's tyranny had been foreseen by the prophet Daniel years ago. Tools Tools. Spanish English to Spanish. Amaze your friends with your new-found knowledge! It originated as an allusion in a Bible verse with no known literal meaning, confusing anyone unfamiliar with this origin.

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Mandarin Chinese characters. To top. Traditional Chinese images. My word lists. Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes. Hindi to English. English images. English confusables. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. German English to German. For other uses, see Feet of Clay disambiguation.