march to a different beat

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, march to a different drummer . Act independently, differ in conduct or ideas from most others, as in Joe wanted to be married on a mountain top—he always marches to a different beat , or Sarah has her own ideas for the campaign; she marches to a different drummer . This idiom, alluding to being out of step in a parade, is a version of Henry David Thoreau's statement in Walden (1854): “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” It came into wide use in the mid-1900s.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

march-past Marcia

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