Choose the correct meaning of idiom: Know which way the wind blows

Correct — C. Know which way the wind blows is not about weather. It means understanding how a situation, or people's opinion, is moving, usually before deciding what to do.

The option that says this is Sense how events or opinion are trending before acting → option (c).

The literal readings, compass bearings and weather, are the traps.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Determine compass directions — Determine compass directions reads the idiom literally, as finding a bearing. The phrase uses the wind as an image for the drift of events, not for north and south.
• (b)
  Predict literal weather — Predict literal weather takes the words at face value, and its own word literal gives it away. An idiom item asks for the figurative sense.
• (d)
  Forget instructions — Forget instructions has no link to wind, direction or reading a situation. The idiom is about noticing how things are moving, which forgetting is not.

An idiom is a fixed phrase whose meaning is not the sum of its words. The image here is wind direction, the thing a weather vane shows.

Carried over to people, it means reading which way events or opinion are moving. Someone who knows which way the wind blows gauges the mood of a meeting before speaking, or the likely result before committing.

So the answer has to be about people and situations, not compasses or weather.

Key facts

• Know which way the wind blows: to understand how a situation or opinion is developing, usually before acting.
• A straw in the wind is a small sign of what may happen.
• Get wind of something means to hear about it, often something meant to be secret.

Common traps

• Choosing a literal option because it mentions direction or weather
• Confusing this idiom with sail close to the wind, which means doing something risky that is almost unacceptable

No directly related past PYQ was found.