move the needle

From the indicator needle of a measuring instrument such as a speedometer.

• IPA^(key): /ˌmuːv ðə ˈniː.dəl/ (enPR: mo͞ov′ thə nē′-dəl)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

move the needle (third-person singular simple present moves the needle, present participle moving the needle, simple past and past participle moved the needle)

1. (intransitive, idiomatic) To change a situation to a noticeable degree; to make an appreciable difference.

   Synonym: budge the needle

   • 2002 July 28, Janice M. Horowitz, “Hot Stuff”, in Time:

     Think Red Hots are a taste challenge? Or the Atomic Fireball is the ultimate tongue torture? They barely move the needle for confectionery connoisseurs.

   • 2012 August 9, Eric Lowitt, “To solve climate change, let's move beyond climate change”, in The Guardian:

     How does a participant in a sector, or an entire sector for that matter, move the needle on climate change?

   • 2016 May 19, James B. Stewart, quoting Bill Smead, “Warren Buffett Stake Suggests Apple Is All Grown Up”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

     “[G]iven Apple’s huge success and its sheer magnitude, it needs a monstrous new product or enhancement of an existing product to move the needle on growth.”

   • 2020, Anuj Adhiya, Growth Hacking For Dummies‎^[1], John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     A North Star Metric (NSM) allows everyone, irrespective of team status, to ask, “How is what I'm doing today helping move the needle on our NSM?”

   • 2024 May 4, Alex Hern, Dan Milmo, quoting Sam Altman, “Danger and opportunity for news industry as AI woos it for vital human-written copy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

     Speaking in January, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, appeared dismissive of NYT’s relevance to its products. “Any one particular training source, it doesn’t move the needle for us that much,” he said.

Move the needle requires the appending of on (or an equivalent preposition) in order to have an object:

• If we want to move the needle on this problem, we need to work together.