🗓️ Idiom: Hook, Line, and Sinker (adv)
💬 Meaning
- To believe something completely and without doubt.
- To fall for a trick or marketing pitch fully and uncritically.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The customer fell for the promotion hook, line, and sinker.
- They believed the salesperson’s pitch hook, line, and sinker, even though it was too good to be true.
- The audience bought into the branding message hook, line, and sinker.
🏛️ Origin
This idiom comes from fishing equipment. “Hook, line, and sinker” refers to the complete fishing setup. If a fish swallows all three, it is thoroughly caught. The phrase has been used since the late 19th century to describe someone being completely deceived or convinced.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The client believed every word of the pitch — he fell for it __________.
Answer
hook, line, and sinker
2. Choose the correct meaning of “hook, line, and sinker”:
A) Reluctantly
B) Completely and without question
C) Partially and with skepticism
Answer
B) Completely and without question
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“The investor believed the startup’s story completely.” → Change the sentence using: hook, line, and sinker
Answer
The investor believed the startup’s story hook, line, and sinker.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
👉 Marketing and Sales Idioms
👉 Business English Idioms List
👉 Student Space
👉 Tutor Toolkit
Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
