go out on a limb
"go-out-on-a-limb" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“go out on a limb” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To take a risk.
Corpus desk
Index EN-go-out-on-a-limb · go out on a limb · English
go out on a limb · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" 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 | go out on a limb |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “go out on a limb” in English
Rare enough to double-check
go out on a limb is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
go out on a limb doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is go out on a limb, spelled G-O- -O-U-T- -O-N- -A- -L-I-M-B.
Definition
- 1To take a risk.
- 2To hazard a guess.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how go out on a limb appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He doesn't want to go out on a limb, but he really should give it a try.
Consenting Adult is probably worth watching, if only because it's not every day a TV movie is made about gay people. But don't expect too much. As long as groups like the Moral Majority have power, I doubt TV will be going out on much of a limb for us.
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.