Meaning & use
push your limits
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Meanings
phraseidiom
to try to do more than you have done before, in order to improve or achieve something
Grammar: Takes a possessive pronoun that matches the subject: push your limits, push herself. No object after limits.
Patterns
- push your limits
- push yourself to your limits
- push your limits in something
If you want to get better at running, you need to push your limits a little more each week.
She pushed her limits in the exam and got a higher score than she expected.
The coach encourages players to push their limits without risking injury.
phraseidiom
to behave in a way that tests how much you can endure or how far you can go before something bad happens
Grammar: Often used with a warning tone: you're pushing your limits means you may be going too far.
Patterns
- be pushing your limits
- push something to its limits
After working three night shifts in a row, he was really pushing his limits.
The old car was pushed to its limits on the steep mountain road.
You're pushing your limits if you keep skipping meals to study.
Common combinations
- push yourself to your limits
- Marathon runners often push themselves to their limits in the final mile.
- really push your limits
- The training camp really pushed my limits, but I learned a lot.
- push your limits physically
- Climbing that mountain pushed her limits physically and mentally.
- know your limits
- It's good to push your limits, but you also need to know your limits.
Synonyms and how they differ
- test yourself
- This focuses on finding out what you can do, rather than deliberately going beyond your current ability.
- go the extra mile
- This means making more effort than expected, but it does not always involve doing something harder than before.
- stretch yourself
- This is close in meaning and often used for learning new skills; it sounds slightly more formal than push your limits.
Opposites
Commonly confused: push your limits or push the limits?
push your limits vs push the limits
Push the limits usually means to test rules or boundaries, often in a negative way. Push your limits is about personal effort and improvement.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase needs a possessive pronoun that matches the subject: her limits. Option 1 has the correct order and form; the others mix up word order or use the wrong pronoun form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “push your limits”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.