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nail down
verb
- to fasten down with or as if with nails
- informal.to extort a definite promise or consent from
I nailed him down on the deadline
- informal.to settle in a definite way
they nailed down the agreement
Idioms and Phrases
Establish conclusively, as in The reporter nailed down the story by checking all the facts . This metaphoric expression alludes to fixing or fastening something down with nails. [c. 1600]Example Sentences
Whether that has had the projected effect is uncertain; reams of law-review pages and financial analyses have been filled with conjecture, but it’s hard to nail down the effect.
It took weeks for doctors to nail down the diagnosis.
"I think if we can nail down these negotiations and move towards these negotiations... then the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause," he told Fox News.
“I think it's hard to really nail down.”
Favouritism and nepotism thrive, it's hard to nail down or pinpoint but if you are friends with the right people it makes you untouchable.
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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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