Idioms: Act - hard a. to follow

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Idiom(s) of the day: a hard act to follow

My category (Russian-to-English translation): Положительная или отрицательная оценка (Positive or negative evaluation).

Explanation(s):

Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, 2004 (CCDI):

If you say that someone is a hard act to follow, you mean that they are so impressive or so effective that it will be for anyone else to be as good or as successive. Adjectives such as ‘tough’ and ‘difficult’ can be used instead of ‘hard’.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

an achievement or performance which sets a standard regarded as being hard for others to measure up to

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

Translation(s):

CCDI:

Не знающий себе равных, непревзойденный мастер чего-либо; недосягаемый образец чего-либо.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

1) номер, имевший шумный успех, повторить который последующим выступающим очень трудно 2) труднодостижимый уровень, высокая планка; образцовое исполнение своих обязанностей

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Multitran (www.multitran.ru):

Multilex (www.multilex.ru):

Examples:

CCDI:

Prince Charles has known his destiny since childhood. He knows too that his mother will be a hard act to follow.

He had a hard act to follow. His predecessor was a brilliant intellectual who also drew, as Chancellor, on long practical experience as an observer of the economic scene.

There’s no doubt Ford’s vision and hard work has played a major role in the museum’s success. He’ll be a tough act to follow.

Lingvo (www.lingvo.com):

Will we ever see his like again? A titan like John Paul II will always be a hard act to follow. (Times Online) — Появится ли в будущем на папском престоле личность такого же масштаба? Иоанн Павел Второй задал очень высокую планку.

Babylon (www.babylon.com):

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) v4.0:

Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary v4.7:

British National Corpus (BNC), Mark Davies (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/): 27 total

Whenever he goes, he will be a hard act to follow .

Last season's total of 38 seemed like a hard act to follow, but McCoist admitted: "I always knew that I was capable of scoring even more, but I didn't want to shout too loudly about it. "

"He will be, as they say, a hard act to follow , but the board will rally round whoever is chosen for this difficult and very important job."

There is no question that Mr Brown's will be an exceedingly hard act to follow . His tenure saw the gallery grow from a provincial treasure house to a world-renowned showcase which challenged the Metropolitan as the country's most prestigious venue.

You've certainly set us a hard act to follow !

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