Meaning of see the forest for the trees | Babel Free
Definitions
To discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; to see the big picture, or the broader, more general situation.
idiomatic
Equivalents
Suomi
nähdä metsä puilta
Français
l'arbre qui cache la forêt
日本語
木を見て森を見ず
한국어
나무를 보고 숲을 보지 못한다
Nederlands
door de bomen het bos niet meer zien
Português
ver a floresta pelas árvores
Русский
не видеть леса за деревьями
Examples
“Smith is good at detail, but can't see the forest for the trees.”
“It is, indeed, the principal drawback to the study of London that she is too vast—that the student is ever in danger of "not seeing the forest for the trees."”
“On the other hand, I have purposely treated the empirical physical foundations of the theory in a "step-motherly" fashion, so that readers unfamiliar with physics may not feel like the wanderer who was unable to see the forest for the trees.”
“Your only failing is that you can't see the forest for the trees.”
CEFR level
C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.