Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

stay in one's lane

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English

Syllables: stay in one's lane
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

1

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To mind one's own business.

Informal

verb

To mind one's own business.

Informal

verb

To keep to one's own kind; to avoid intermixing or associating with other types of people.

Informal

verb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stay, in, one's, lane; for example, either manually or via lanekeeping by software.

Example Sentences

"That's because this place is racist, but also because most black filmmakers don't have an interest in integrating. They've accepted the premise that they must stay in their lane […]"
"There are those who try to outlive their means while others just stay in their lane. Some of us are used to being broke, having less […]"

Etymology

Metaphoric, from the conventions for driving a motor vehicle.

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

stays in one's lane (present, singular) staying in one's lane (participle, present) stayed in one's lane (participle, past) stayed in one's lane (past)

Frequently Paired Words

neoracism

Synonyms

stick to one's knitting know one's place

Questions

What does stay in one's lane mean?: To mind one's own business.
Where does stay in one's lane come from?: Metaphoric, from the conventions for driving a motor vehicle.

How to pronounce stay in one's lane

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