get down to brass tacks
/ɡɛt ˈdaʊn tə bɹɑːs ˈtæks/
"get-down-to-brass-tacks" is a 19-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“get down to brass tacks” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 23
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To (start to) consider or deal with the most important details or facts about something.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | get down to brass tacks |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɡɛt ˈdaʊn tə bɹɑːs ˈtæks/ |
| Letters | 23 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “get down to brass tacks” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for get down to brass tacks is 23 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡɛt ˈdaʊn tə bɹɑːs ˈtæks/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To (start to) consider or deal with the most important details or facts about something.".
No misspelling variants are generated for get down to brass tacks in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: The origin is uncertain. It is probably a variant of the earlier term down to the brass (see, for example, the 1854 quotation), and the following etymologies have been suggested: * The term refers to the brass tacks used in upholstery which have to be remov… The correct English form is get down to brass tacks, spelled G-E-T- -D-O-W-N- -T-O- -B-R-A-S-S- -T-A-C-K-S.
Definition
- 1To (start to) consider or deal with the most important details or facts about something.
Etymology
The origin is uncertain. It is probably a variant of the earlier term down to the brass (see, for example, the 1854 quotation), and the following etymologies have been suggested: * The term refers to the brass tacks used in upholstery which have to be removed when a piece of furniture is reupholstered, or brass tacks stuck into the counter of a draper’s shop or hardware store to measure items precisely in yards. * Another possibility is that the brass tacks are nails used to seal coffin lids, or tacks used to decorate or indicate a deceased person’s initials on such lids, and thus the term refers to dealing with matters as serious as death.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “get down to brass tacks”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-E-T- -D-O-W-N- -T-O- -B-R-A-S-S- -T-A-C-K-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡɛt ˈdaʊn tə bɹɑːs ˈtæks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.