hoop jumping
Tedious procedural compliance
Hoop jumping is the act of completing tedious, often arbitrary requirements to satisfy bureaucratic or institutional demands.
The image comes from trained animals leaping through hoops on command.
The phrase usually carries frustration or criticism—the hoops exist not because they serve a purpose but because someone insists on them: Getting a building permit involves endless hoop jumping.
Also appears as jumping through hoops.
- circusTraveling entertainment with performers
- lion tamerCircus performer controlling felines
- acrobaticsSkilled physical feats
- ringClosed curve shape
- ring of firePacific seismic belt
performance · obstacle · bureaucracy · paperwork · red tape · leap · agility · trained · trained seal · seal · dolphin · fire · flaming · trick · spectacle · hurdle · compliance · forms
- busyworkbusywork, make-work, grunt work, drudgery, tedium
hoop jumpingdirect path
Straight line between points
straight shot · streamlined process · beeline · efficiency · simplicity
hoop jumpingself-direction
Controlling one's own choices
autonomy · free rein · carte blanche · creative freedom · self-determination
hoop, hoops, hooped, hooping, jump, jumps, jumped, jumping, jumper