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fall in line
Idioms and Phrases
Also, fall into line . Adhere to established rules or predetermined courses of action. For example, This idea falls in line with the entire agenda , or It wasn't easy to get all the tenants to fall into line concerning the rent hike . A related term is bring into line, meaning “to make someone fit established rules,†as in It was her job to bring her class into line with the others . These terms employ line in the sense of “alignment,†a usage dating from about 1500.Example Sentences
The February letter laid out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy, threatening to pull federal dollars from schools that do not fall in line.
These pages are filled with people commanded to fall in line or else, to cease dissent or risk losing it all.
But members of the appointed state board did not fall in line.
At the University of Cincinnati, the president said that he had “little choice†but to fall in line.
It laid out a new federal anti-discrimination enforcement policy, threatening to pull federal dollars from schools that do not fall in line.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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