All idioms
idiom

Fish out of water

FISH owt uv WAW-ter

/fɪʃ aʊt əv ˈwɔːtər/

Listen

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Syllable breakdown

fishoutofwater

Dictionary meaning

A person who is in an unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation and feels out of place or at a loss.

Examples

  • As the only engineer at a marketing conference, he felt like a fish out of water.
  • Moving from a small town to a megacity left her feeling like a fish out of water.

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