beating around the bush

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“And they were always beating around the bush, like, ‘Yeah, we’re here for now.’”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

“Right now Ritter’s had a hot hand and we’ll play him. No sense beating around the bush or trying to be coy,” McLellan said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2024

I’ve willingly stuck it out through every movie in the horror series, so there’s no use beating around the bush: “Saw” is my kind of trash.

From New York Times • Sep. 28, 2023

“There wasn’t a lot of beating around the bush with Boch, he would kind of just tell you like it is,” Crawford said.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 15, 2023

There was no point beating around the bush.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling