He seems knowledgeable in many different areas but his familiarity is very superficial, since he only skims the surface of everything he touches.
Словарь американских идиом. — СПб., Изд-во "Лань". Оригинал: A.Маккей, М.Т.Боткер, Дж.И.Гейтс. 1997.
skim the surface — {v. phr.} To do something very superficially. * /He seems knowledgeable in many different areas but his familiarity is very superficial, since he only skims the surface of everything he touches./ … Dictionary of American idioms
skim the surface — {v. phr.} To do something very superficially. * /He seems knowledgeable in many different areas but his familiarity is very superficial, since he only skims the surface of everything he touches./ … Dictionary of American idioms
scratch the surface — Synonyms and related words: be innocent of, coquet with, dabble, give up, have no idea, know a little, know not, know not what, know nothing of, not know, not rightly know, pass, skim, skim over, skim the surface, smatter, touch upon, toy with,… … Moby Thesaurus
scratch the surface — (Roget s IV) v. Syn. be superficial, analyze superficially, inspect superficially, touch on, touch upon, mention, skim, scan, brush; see also begin 1 , 2 … English dictionary for students
skim — {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} verb ADVERB ▪ barely (figurative) ▪ This report has barely skimmed the surface of the subject. ▪ only ▪ low ▪ A bird skimmed low over th … Collocations dictionary
surface — n. 1) a bumpy; even, smooth; frozen; plane; rough surface 2) below, beneath, under the surface (also fig.) 3) on the surface (also fig.) 4) (misc.) to scratch, skim the surface ( to treat superficially ) * * * [ sɜːfɪs] beneath even frozen … Combinatory dictionary
skim — Synonyms and related words: avalanche, ball the jack, barrel, blink, boom, bowl along, breeze, breeze along, browse, brush, brush by, carefully ignore, caress, carom, clip, coast, cold shoulder, come in contact, contact, cream, cut a corner, cut… … Moby Thesaurus
skim — /skim/, v., skimmed, skimming, n. v.t. 1. to take up or remove (floating matter) from the surface of a liquid, as with a spoon or ladle: to skim the cream from milk. 2. to clear (liquid) thus: to skim milk. 3. to move or glide lightly over or… … Universalium
skim — [skım] v past tense and past participle skimmed present participle skimming [Date: 1400 1500; Origin: Perhaps from scum to remove scum (14 19 centuries), from scum (noun)] 1.) [T] to remove something from the surface of a liquid, especially… … Dictionary of contemporary English
Skim — (sk[i^]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Skimmed} (sk[i^]md); p. pr. & vb. n. {Skimming}.] [Cf. Sw. skymma to darken. [root]158. See {Scum}.] 1. To clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying thereon, by means of a utensil that passes just… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
