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View synonyms for nail down

nail down

verb

  1. to fasten down with or as if with nails
  2. informal.
    to extort a definite promise or consent from

    I nailed him down on the deadline

  3. informal.
    to settle in a definite way

    they nailed down the agreement

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Idioms and Phrases

Establish conclusively, as in The reporter nailed down the story by checking all the facts . This metaphoric expression alludes to fixing or fastening something down with nails. [c. 1600]
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Example Sentences

"No-one has been able to nail down who exactly has benefited. It’s almost like a beer parlour gossip about who is getting what," says Toyin Akinosho of the Africa Oil+Gas Report.

From BBC

I nailed down the fastest, safest route home from my job in Westwood.

“Right now the U.S. consumer is buying everything that isn’t nailed down,” said Rupkey.

So perhaps expecting it to be nailed down for 90 minutes just three games in is just not realistic.

From BBC

It can take a while to get through the process and nail down a contractor — who may have trouble getting supplies, causing further delays.

From Salon

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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