box-ticking
(British, figurative, by extension) Completion of bureaucratic processes of little practical use.
Seen in the wild
Skip the crowds: Why Greece is Europe’s top pick for a slower, more relaxing summer https://www.europesays.com/europe/31584/ Fast, box-ticking trips are falling out of favour. Instead, more tourists are slowing thin…
Breakthrough MDR paths must tie AI-SaMD risk to real-world outcomes; post-market data should auto-update design controls, not sit in a file drawer. That makes CAPA truly dynamic, not a box-ticking exercise. Thoughts?
Definitions
(British, figurative, by extension) Completion of bureaucratic processes of little practical use.
“Skip the crowds: Why Greece is Europe’s top pick for a slower, more relaxing summer https://www.europesays.com/europe/31584/ Fast, box-ticking trips are falling out of favour. Instead, more tourists are slowing things down and choosing new…”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(British) The completion of a form containing multiple-choice questions in which one or more boxes need to be ticked by way of an answer.
“Breakthrough MDR paths must tie AI-SaMD risk to real-world outcomes; post-market data should auto-update design controls, not sit in a file drawer. That makes CAPA truly dynamic, not a box-ticking exercise. Thoughts?”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
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Semantically related
- tickey box64%
(South Africa, slang) A payphone.
- tick off64%
(sometimes, metaphorical) To sign an item on a list with a tick mark, especially as a signal that the item has veen verified or completed.
- tick off61%
(British, AU, transitive, historically, _, US) To reprimand.
- do exactly what it says on the tin60%
(idiomatic, British, Irish) To do what is described or what one would expect, with no further explanation needed.