Meanings
- humorousidiomaticoftenSomewhat sarcastic but usually good-natured advice used to criticise a person's degree of talent (especially in music or other performing arts), implying that they are unlikely to be successful.
When the accounting department's barbershop quartet was warming up, the sales team was ribbing them, yelling, "Don't give up your day job!"
1 more example
"I remember after the school was over," he said, "I went up to the instructor just completely wound up like: ‘O.K. man, how do I do this and become a real racecar driver? I want to quit my job and do this.’ . . . And he goes: ‘Other Sports Beckon. You suck. Don't give up your day job.’ "
2006 July 3, Viv Bernstein, “Said Makes His Case for Success in Nascar”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Oct 2015Synonyms: don't quit your day job
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseSomewhat sarcastic but usually good-natured advice used to criticise a person's degree of talent (especially in music or other performing arts), implying that they are unlikely to be successful.
Cite this entry
don't give up your day job. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/don't%20give%20up%20your%20day%20job
“don't give up your day job.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/don't%20give%20up%20your%20day%20job. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “don't give up your day job,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/don't%20give%20up%20your%20day%20job.
Source: don't give up your day job on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.