Meaning & use
string someone along
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Meanings
phraseidiominformal
To keep someone hoping for something you never intend to give, especially love or a job.
Grammar: The object goes between string and along: string her along, not string along her.
Patterns
- string someone along for something
- string someone along about something
- keep stringing someone along
He strung her along for two years without ever planning to marry her.
Stop stringing me along and tell me whether I got the job.
They kept the players stringing along with talk of a new contract that never came.
phraseidiominformaldisapproving
To deceive someone by making them believe something untrue for a long time.
Grammar: Used with a person as the object; often suggests deliberate, repeated lying.
Patterns
- string someone along with something
- string someone along about something
The company strung investors along with fake progress reports.
She felt she had been strung along about the merger for months.
Common combinations
- string someone along for years
- They strung him along for years before admitting the project was dead.
- keep stringing someone along
- If you keep stringing her along, she'll find out eventually.
- string someone along with promises
- The salesman strung us along with promises of a refund.
- feel strung along
- After the third delay, the whole team felt strung along.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lead someone on
- Very close in meaning, but usually about romantic interest, while string along can also be about jobs, deals or money.
- deceive
- A general, more formal word for making someone believe something false; it does not carry the idea of keeping someone waiting.
- mislead
- Suggests giving wrong information rather than deliberately keeping hope alive for a long time.
Opposites
Word family
- string along phrasal verb
- The same verb without an object, meaning to go along with others or just follow what happens.
Commonly confused: string someone along or string out?
string someone along vs string out
A different phrasal verb meaning to spread things over a longer time or space, as in 'string out the meetings'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'string someone along' correctly?
Choose one answer.
With this idiom the object goes between 'string' and 'along': string him along. Option A keeps the two parts together, which is not the usual pattern, and C and D scramble the fixed phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “string someone along”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.