go through the motions

present singular third person goes through the motions · participle present going through the motions · past went through the motions · participle past gone through the motions

1. idiomaticTo do something in a mechanical, unreflective manner, especially as a matter of routine and without commitment or enthusiasm; to perform a task perfunctorily.

   They went through the motions of living, but they didn't live.

   1919, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, chapter 15, in Rainbow Valley, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   Aleck was a Christian from the cradle, and duty and the force of habit required her to go through the motions.

   1905, Mark Twain, chapter 3, in The $30,000 Bequest

   In screening an adviser, these should be your goals: —To determine whether he or she cares about helping clients or just goes through the motions […]

   2003 July 8, Jason Zweig, Benjamin Graham, “Get Rich Slowly: How to Pick a Financial Adviser”, in TIME, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2012

   The whole "weapons of mass destruction" concern was phony from the start, and the drama about inspections was just kabuki: going through the motions.

   2005 June 12, Michael Kinsley, “No Smoking Gun”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2024