Word.ws English Dictionary

fly in the ointment

Syllables: fly in the oint·mentUK/ˈflaɪ ɪn ði ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/US/ˈflaɪ ən ði ˈɔɪn(t)m(ə)nt/

fly in the ointment noun: something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.

Noun

fly in the ointment (plural flies in the ointment)

  1. (idiomatic) Something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.
    • And yet, in truth, he was not then a child of God. His pride and uncharitableness, were flies in the ointment.1807, [Edward Wesley Hare], “Letter V”, in Genuine Methodism Acquitted, and Spurious Methodism Condemned; […] , Rochdale, Lancashire: […] J. Hartley; […], →OCLC, paragraph 5, page 75
    • A Poor Relation—is the most irrelevant thing in nature,— […] —a fly in your ointment,—a mote in your eye,— […] —the ounce of sour in a pound of sweet.[1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Poor Relations”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 10

Examples of fly in the ointment in a sentence

  • But Patel said there was a “fly in the ointment”, noting that between the first results and the new data, uncertainty has increased around the theoretical prediction of the frequency.2023 August 11, Nicola Davis, “Scientists may be on brink of discovering fifth force of nature”, in The Guardian:
  • But there is one fly in the ointment, which is only too evident at Queen Street and Central... buddleia.2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 49:

Synonyms of fly in the ointment

Forms of fly in the ointment

pluralflies in the ointment

Origin of fly in the ointment

A reference to Ecclesiastes 10:1 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doeth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.”

Questions about fly in the ointment

What does fly in the ointment mean?
Fly in the ointment means something (especially a minor thing) which ruins or spoils everything else, or makes it less pleasant; a nuisance or problem; a disagreeable or unpleasant detail.
How do you use fly in the ointment in a sentence?
But Patel said there was a “fly in the ointment”, noting that between the first results and the new data, uncertainty has increased around the theoretical prediction of the frequency.
What part of speech is fly in the ointment?
Fly in the ointment is a noun.
How do you pronounce fly in the ointment?
Fly in the ointment is pronounced /ˈflaɪ ɪn ði ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/ (UK).
What is the plural of fly in the ointment?
The plural of fly in the ointment is flies in the ointment.

Words near fly in the ointment in the dictionary

  1. fly half
  2. fly high
  3. fly in
  4. fly in the buttermilk
  5. fly in the face of
  6. fly in the ointment
  7. fly into
  8. fly into a rage
  9. fly killer
  10. fly killers
  11. fly like a bird

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fly in the ointment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-fly in the ointment.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fly in the ointment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fly_in_the_ointment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.