MEANING
To destroy your chances of returning to an earlier situation, position or relationship.
Use it for
describing a destroyed fallback option; showing someone breaking with a former position; warning that a departure may prevent return; distinguishing commitment from keeping alternatives openEmphasizes destroying the possibility of returning to an earlier position or relationship. Writing functions: Destruction of fallback options.
Words that belong together
- burn your boats behind you
- avoid burning your boats
On the page
He criticized the employer after leaving but stopped short of burning his boats.
By selling the equipment, they burned their boats and committed to the new process.
Word forms
- Base
- burn your boats
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: burn/burns/burned or burnt/burning; the possessive changes with the subject. Burn your bridges is a recognized alternative. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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