Meaning & use
dropping buckets
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phraseinformal
Raining very hard.
Grammar: Used after it is / it was: it's dropping buckets. Do not put a person or thing before it.
Patterns
- it is dropping buckets
- it was dropping buckets
We were about to leave when it started dropping buckets, so we waited under the shop awning.
It was dropping buckets all morning, and the football game was called off.
Take an umbrella — it's dropping buckets out there.
phrasefixed phraseinformalfigurative
Used more generally to say that a lot of something is falling or arriving at once, especially rain or tears.
Grammar: Still needs a subject like it or the rain; it is not used with people as the subject.
Patterns
- the rain was dropping buckets
- it was dropping buckets
The rain was dropping buckets on the tent, and we could hardly hear each other.
By the end of the film she was dropping buckets, and her brother pretended not to notice.
Common combinations
- it's dropping buckets
- Hurry up and get inside — it's dropping buckets!
- start dropping buckets
- The sky went dark and then it started dropping buckets.
- be dropping buckets outside
- You'll need your boots; it's dropping buckets outside.
- dropping buckets all day
- It was dropping buckets all day, so the kids stayed indoors.
- stop dropping buckets
- By four o'clock it had finally stopped dropping buckets.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pouring
- The everyday word for heavy rain in the phrase 'it's pouring'; it sounds slightly less exaggerated than 'dropping buckets'.
- raining heavily
- Neutral and suitable for formal writing, where 'dropping buckets' would sound too casual.
- bucketing down
- A very similar British idiom; 'dropping buckets' is more common in American speech.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: dropping buckets or dropping buckets? dropping buckets or buckets?
dropping buckets vs dropping buckets
Do not confuse this weather idiom with the literal action of dropping buckets; only the weather use is idiomatic.
dropping buckets vs buckets
On its own, 'buckets' just means containers or large amounts; the rain meaning comes only from the whole phrase.
Practice
Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Choose one answer.
The idiom always has 'it' as the subject and describes heavy rain, as in option 2. Option 1 describes people literally letting buckets fall, option 3 wrongly makes a person the subject of the rain, and option 4 is not the idiom at all.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dropping buckets”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.