Meaning & use
down-to-earth personality
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Meaning
phrasecountable
A practical, modest, and realistic way of behaving that is not pretentious or overly dramatic.
Grammar: Used as a countable phrase: 'She has a down-to-earth personality.' The adjective part can also describe a person directly: 'He is down-to-earth.'
Patterns
- have a down-to-earth personality
- a down-to-earth personality trait
Despite his fame, he has a down-to-earth personality and still helps his neighbors.
Her down-to-earth personality makes her easy to talk to at work.
The team leader's down-to-earth personality kept everyone calm during the crisis.
Word forms
| plural | down-to-earth personalities |
|---|
Common combinations
- a down-to-earth personality
- She has a down-to-earth personality that puts people at ease.
- down-to-earth attitude
- His down-to-earth attitude impressed the interviewers.
- down-to-earth person
- My grandfather was a down-to-earth person who never bragged.
- down-to-earth approach
- They took a down-to-earth approach to solving the problem.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unpretentious
- This adjective focuses on not trying to appear more important than you are, while 'down-to-earth personality' also suggests practical good sense.
- modest
- Modest emphasizes not talking proudly about yourself; it does not necessarily include being practical or realistic.
- realistic
- Realistic means seeing things as they are, but it does not carry the warm, likeable quality of 'down-to-earth personality'.
Opposites
Word family
- down-to-earth adjective
- The base adjective meaning practical and modest.
Commonly confused: down-to-earth personality or down to earth?
down-to-earth personality vs down to earth
Without hyphens, 'down to earth' can be a literal direction or a verb phrase ('The rocket came down to earth'). The hyphenated form is the fixed adjective.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'down-to-earth personality' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A down-to-earth personality means being practical and modest, so never showing off fits. The other options describe anxiety, materialism, or dishonesty, which are not part of this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “down-to-earth personality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.