Meanings
- idiomaticBeing given something too easily, especially more than one deserves.
It is such awkward moves that create frustration within the coalition and, at the same time, present the arguments to the Opposition on a silver platter.
1990, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report. West Europe, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, page 413 more examples
The plainest and simplest is that it is "up to" the automobile workers themselves. Quite obviously, "nothing is going to be handed to them on a silver platter!" Their intelligence, courage and solidarity must answer the question which modern industry puts to them.
1908, Pamphlets on Trade Unions - Volume 1, page 56On the other hand, the youth should not wait for an invitation to be active and for readymade programs and plans of actions presented to them on a silver platter. The youth themselves should demonstrate initiative..
1973, United States Joint Publications Research Service, Translations on Near East and North Africa - Issues 878-886, Joint Publications Research Service, page 73Even as the investigator was handing Dartmouth over to him on a silver platter, Goody was whining and complaining, defending himself against the constant and wholly imaginary threat of being taken advantage of.
2012, Gar Anthony Haywood, It's Not a Pretty Sight, Open Road Media, →ISBN, page 32
Synonyms & antonyms
Cite this entry
on a silver platter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20silver%20platter
“on a silver platter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20silver%20platter. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on a silver platter,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20silver%20platter.
Source: on a silver platter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.