🇯🇵Japanese Source WordCode: JA

言いなりになる

Pronunciation / Transliteration: iinari ni naru

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Beck and call/ˌbɛk ən ˈkɔːl/
nounidiomCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4500 frequency
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🇯🇵 Example Sentence in Japanese:

"彼は上司の言いなりになっている。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

1 sense
As idiom
  1. 1

    Always ready to immediately obey orders, serve, or attend to someone's every wish.

    "She felt exhausted from being at her manager's beck and call twenty-four hours a day."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The idiom derives from Middle English abbreviations of verbs, where 'beck' is a shortening of 'becken' (meaning to nod or gesture as a signal) and 'call' refers to summoning someone with the voice. Combined by the 16th century, the phrase originally described absolute obedience to a master's gestures and voice commands.

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