steal sb's thunder
Definition
› to do what someone else was going to do before they do it, especially if this takes success or praise away from them: Sandy stole my thunder when she announced that she was pregnant two days before I'd planned to tell people about my pregnancy.Surpassing in quality or number
(Definition of steal sb's thunder from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Surpassing in quality or number, but you might be interested in these topics from the Doing and achieving topic area:
- Abstaining and refraining
- Acting and acts
- Avoiding action
- Becoming better
- Cancelling and interrupting
- Competing and contending (non-sporting)
- Coping and not coping
- Delaying and wasting time
- Describing the leading position
- Efficient and effective
- Expressions telling people to hurry up
- Failing and doing badly
- Failures
- Getting involved for one's own benefit or against others' will
- Hesitating
- Higher and lower points of achievement
- Hurrying and doing things quickly
- Making progress and advancing
- Making things better
- Performing a function
- Potential
- Reacting and responding
- Repeating an action
- Succeeding, achieving and fulfilling
- Success and achievements
- Successful (things or people)
- Taking part and getting involved
- Trying and making an effort
- Unsuccessful (people and things)
- Waiting
- Ways of achieving things
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SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- beat verb (DEFEAT)
- better noun
- catch up phrasal verb (REACH SAME STANDARD)
- compare verb (CONSIDER SIMILARITIES)
- crown verb (HEAD COVERING)
- eclipse noun (IMPORTANCE)
- eclipse verb (IMPORTANCE)
- exceed verb
- go one better idiom
- outdo verb
- outflank verb
- outnumber verb
- outperform verb
- outran
- put/leave sb in the shade idiom
- shame verb (COMPARE WELL)
- steal a march on sb idiom
- surpass verb
- tower above/over sth phrasal verb
- transcend verb
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to not be trusted or popular because people think you have done something bad
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