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go through the motions

verbverified·updated Jun 3, 2026

pretend to do something by acting as if one was really doing it

MWE

Classifications

Cognitive

Remember75%llm-generatedllm:claude-haiku-4-5
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Responsibility

Unclassifiedauthoritativetrigger_default_value
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Automation

Unclassifiedauthoritativetrigger_default_value
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Variants

pasttense
goed through the motionswent through the motions
presentparticiple
going through the motions
thirdpersonsingular
goes through the motionsgos through the motions
pastparticiple
goed through the motionsgone through the motions