drummer



march to (the beat of) a different drummer

Fig. to believe in a different set of principles. John is marching to a different drummer, and he doesn't associate with us anymore. Since Sally started marching to the beat of a different drummer, she has had a lot of great new ideas.
See also: different, drummer, march

march to a different drummer

to be different from other people As long as the schools that are marching to a different drummer just serve poor kids, no one really cares how they try to teach their students.
See also: different, drummer, march

march to a different drummer

  (mainly American) also march to a different tune (British)
to behave in a different way or to believe in different things from the people around you While most of the country supported military action, Santini was marching to a different drummer.
See steal a march on
See also: different, drummer, march

march to a different beat

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.
See also: beat, different, march

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Nkemdilim-Western African, Igbo
RodolfRO-dawlf (German)German (Rare), Dutch (Rare)
Nia (3)-English
Iair-Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
MirÈIo-Occitan
Tara (1)TAHR-ə, TER-ə, TAR-əEnglish