drop a brick
"drop-a-brick" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“drop a brick” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.
Corpus desk
Index EN-drop-a-brick · drop a brick · English
drop a brick · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | drop a brick |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “drop a brick” in English
Rare enough to double-check
drop a brick is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for drop a brick, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is drop a brick, spelled D-R-O-P- -A- -B-R-I-C-K.
Definition
- 1To commit a faux pas, especially in speech, such as by tactlessly speaking of a subject that should not be mentioned.
- 2Alternative form of drop a bombshell.
- 3Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see drop, brick.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how drop a brick appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It was on one of those Tuesdays that I dropped a brick, the memory of which still haunts me after more than forty years. A very loquacious lady, whom I had never seen before, appeared to be talking through her nose. “Don't you think,” I said to one of my neighbours, by way of starting conversation, “that lady would be well advised to sound her trumpet les…
I remember dropping a brick when I first met her. As she at once started calling me 'Harry' in the way Americans are apt to do, the surname becoming immediately superfluous. I ventured to ask her what her Christian name was. ‘I'm not a Christian, Harry.’
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.