Meaning Of While The Cat's Away, The Mice Will Play In English

Meaning of while the cat's away, the mice will play in English

while the cat's away, the mice will play

idiom   saying Add to word list Add to word list said when the person who is in charge of a place is not there, and the people there behave badly Bad and wrong behaviour
  • act out phrasal verb
  • angel
  • ASB
  • astray
  • at your worst idiom
  • go off the rails idiom
  • go round phrasal verb
  • gross misconduct
  • hellion
  • immoralist
  • plumb the depths of something idiom
  • profligacy
  • profligate
  • raise hell idiom
  • rakish
  • unprincipled
  • unprofessional
  • unprofessionally
  • unworthily
  • unworthy
See more results »
(Definition of while the cat's away, the mice will play from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of while the cat's away, the mice will play

in Chinese (Traditional) 貓不在,老鼠翻天, 閻王不在,小鬼跳樑… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 猫儿不在,老鼠翻天, 阎王不在,小鬼跳梁… See more Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool

Browse

while while sb is at it idiom while someone is about it while something away phrasal verb while the cat's away, the mice will play idiom while the going is good idiom whilst whilst sb is at it idiom whim {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

Word of the Day

self-deprecating

UK /ˌselfˈdep.rə.keɪ.tɪŋ/ US /ˌselfˈdep.rə.keɪ.t̬ɪŋ/

trying to make yourself, your abilities, or your achievements seem less important

About this

Blog

Pondering, musing, and brooding (The language of thinking)

February 11, 2026 Read More

New Words

treatonomics February 16, 2026 More new words has been added to list To top AI icon AI Assistant Contents EnglishTranslations AI icon AI Assistant {{#displayLoginPopup}} Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content: Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans Sign up now or Log in Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Create word lists and quizzes for free Sign up now or Log in {{/displayLoginPopup}} {{#displayClassicSurvey}} {{/displayClassicSurvey}}
  • Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
  • My profile
  • +Plus help
  • Log out
AI Assistant Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Translations Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Danish Danish–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese Translate Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Games {{userName}}
  • Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
  • My profile
  • +Plus help
  • Log out
Log in / Sign up English (UK) Change English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Follow us Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
  • Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
  • Translation Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Danish Danish–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents
  • English   Idiom
  • Translations
  • Grammar
  • All translations
My word lists

To add while the cat's away, the mice will play to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in My word lists

Add while the cat's away, the mice will play to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{name}} More Go to your word lists {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} Tell us about this example sentence: The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}}

Tag » When The Cat's Away The Mice Will Play