Meaning & use
find your feet
Last updated
Meanings
phraseidiom
To become comfortable and confident in a new place, job or situation after a period of adjusting.
Grammar: The possessive matches the subject: he is finding his feet.
Patterns
- find your feet in something
- take time to find your feet
It took the new teacher a month to find her feet.
Give the interns a few weeks to find their feet.
I'm still finding my feet in this city.
phraseidiomsport
To begin performing well, especially a young player, performer or business that started badly.
Grammar: Often used about sports teams or startups starting a season or venture.
Patterns
- start to find your feet
The striker started slowly but found his feet in the second half of the season.
The small bakery finally found its feet after the first winter.
The band found its feet on its second tour.
Word forms
| third person singular | finds your feet |
|---|---|
| past tense | found your feet |
| past participle | found your feet |
| -ing form | finding your feet |
Common combinations
- take time to find your feet
- New staff take time to find their feet.
- slowly find your feet
- He slowly found his feet in the team.
- help someone find their feet
- A mentor helped her find her feet at the firm.
- still finding your feet
- I'm still finding my feet at university.
- finally find your feet
- After a rough start, the club finally found its feet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- settle in
- Settle in is a plain phrasal verb about becoming comfortable, while find your feet adds the idea of growing confident after being unsure.
- get your bearings
- Get your bearings is about understanding where you are or how things work, while find your feet is about gaining confidence.
- get into your stride
- Get into your stride means reaching a steady rhythm in work you already know, whereas find your feet fits a new situation.
- adjust
- Adjust is a neutral, formal verb, whereas find your feet is a warmer idiom.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: find your feet or find your way? find your feet or get cold feet?
find your feet vs find your way
Find your way means to locate a route, while find your feet means to become comfortable in a new situation.
find your feet vs get cold feet
Get cold feet means suddenly lose courage before doing something, the opposite of confidence.
Practice
The new manager is still ____, so please be patient with her questions.
Choose one answer.
Finding her feet means becoming comfortable in a new role. The other verbs do not form the idiom.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “find your feet”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.