Word.ws English Dictionary

fools rush in where angels fear to tread

fools rush in where angels fear to tread proverb: a person who does not plan ahead and think matters through becomes involved in risky or unfavorable situations which prudent people avoid.

Proverb

fools rush in where angels fear to tread

  1. A person who does not plan ahead and think matters through becomes involved in risky or unfavorable situations which prudent people avoid.
    • “It's the first article of your creed—that marriage is a holy sacrament, that no power on earth or in hell can ever dissolve its bonds? Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, my dear! They always have—they always will, I suppose.1915, Thomas Dixon, The Foolish Virgin
    • The year following my graduation the new Captain of my Alma Mater's team asked me if I would aid him in developing the squad for next year. Well, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," so I said Yes.1921, William T. Tilden, The Art of Lawn Tennis
    Synonyms:
    look before you leap

Synonyms of fools rush in where angels fear to tread

  • look before you leap

Antonyms

Origin of fools rush in where angels fear to tread

From An Essay on Criticism (1711) by Alexander Pope.

Questions about fools rush in where angels fear to tread

What does fools rush in where angels fear to tread mean?
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread means a person who does not plan ahead and think matters through becomes involved in risky or unfavorable situations which prudent people avoid.
What part of speech is fools rush in where angels fear to tread?
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread is a proverb.

Words near fools rush in where angels fear to tread in the dictionary

  1. fools along
  2. fools around
  3. fools away
  4. fools for Christ
  5. fools rush in
  6. fools rush in where angels fear to tread
  7. fools to themselves
  8. fools up
  9. fools with
  10. fools' errands
  11. fools' paradises

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fools rush in where angels fear to tread (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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