write checks one can't cash

verb

To make promises one cannot keep, or to make boasts that are not true.

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Meanings

verbwrite checks one can't cash (third-person singular simple present writes checks one can't cash, present participle writing checks one can't cash, simple past wrote checks one couldn't cash, past participle written checks one couldn't cash)

present singular third person writes checks one can't cash · participle present writing checks one can't cash · past wrote checks one couldn't cash · participle past written checks one couldn't cash · alternative write cheques one can't cash

  1. idiomaticinformalTo make promises one cannot keep, or to make boasts that are not true.

    “I think your mouth might be writing checks you can't cash.”

    2022, Jennifer Brozek, Shadowrun: Elfin Black
    1 more example

    You're acting like a frat boy, which is fun and all, but you're writing checks you can't cash.

    2020, Michel Prince, Fourth and Goal

Origin

A check (or "cheque" in British English) is a document that orders a financial institution to pay a specific amount of money. The money would be taken from the account of the person who wrote the check and paid to the person in whose name the check has been issued. If one writes a check for an amount of money one does not have available in the associated account, also known as writing a bad check, the resulting check cannot be cashed by the receiving party. In this situation, a promise of payment was made by writing the check, but the promise is not honored due to insufficient funds.

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Cite this entry
APA

write checks one can't cash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/write%20checks%20one%20can't%20cash

MLA

“write checks one can't cash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/write%20checks%20one%20can't%20cash. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “write checks one can't cash,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/write%20checks%20one%20can't%20cash.

Source: write checks one can't cash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.