verb phrase🎓 English idiom

throw caution to the wind

to act recklessly without worrying about risk

What it means

To stop being careful and act boldly or recklessly without worrying about the risks or consequences. It suggests deliberately abandoning your usual caution for the sake of excitement, freedom, or a goal.

Examples

  • They threw caution to the wind and booked a one-way ticket abroad.
  • Just this once, throw caution to the wind and order the most expensive dish.
  • She threw caution to the wind and invested her savings in the startup.
  • Feeling reckless, he threw caution to the wind and asked her to dance.

Where it comes from

An old image, with related phrasing in 17th-century English, of casting one's prudence away as easily as something light is scattered by the wind; Milton used 'the winds' in a comparable sense.

Related idioms

#jump the gun#take the bull by the horns#bite off more than you can chew#in the heat of the moment

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