Word.ws English Dictionary

let sleeping dogs lie

let sleeping dogs lie verb: to leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past.

Verb

let sleeping dogs lie (third-person singular simple present lets sleeping dogs lie, present participle letting sleeping dogs lie, simple past and past participle let sleeping dogs lie)

  1. (idiomatic) To leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past.
    • Near-synonyms: let it be, leave it be, let things be, leave things be, let it alone, leave it alone, let things alone, leave things alone; let bygones be bygones, let nature take its course
    • Eventually, they decided it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie and not discuss the matter any further.

Examples of let sleeping dogs lie in a sentence

  • A: I noticed a minor typo in the proofs just now, but I think they're already doing the make-ready on the press. B: Time to let sleeping dogs lie then.
  • It was far better, I'd learned, to let sleeping dogs lie.2016, Helene Becker, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Orca Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 217:

Synonyms of let sleeping dogs lie

All synonyms of let sleeping dogs lie

Forms of let sleeping dogs lie

third-person singular presentlets sleeping dogs lie
present participleletting sleeping dogs lie
past participlelet sleeping dogs lie
pastlet sleeping dogs lie

Origin of let sleeping dogs lie

Attestations exist from the 1820s and 1830s. Earlier ones may be discoverable with better corpus searches. The metaphor is self-evident and is typical of folk wisdom. To choose to pass by a sleeping dog without stirring it is comparable to letting a hornets' nest or beehive be, not poking a bear, and so on.

Questions about let sleeping dogs lie

What does let sleeping dogs lie mean?
Let sleeping dogs lie means to leave things as they are; especially, to avoid restarting or rekindling an old argument; to leave disagreements in the past.
How do you use let sleeping dogs lie in a sentence?
A: I noticed a minor typo in the proofs just now, but I think they're already doing the make-ready on the press. B: Time to let sleeping dogs lie then.
What part of speech is let sleeping dogs lie?
Let sleeping dogs lie is a verb.
What is the past tense of let sleeping dogs lie?
The past tense of let sleeping dogs lie is let sleeping dogs lie.

Words near let sleeping dogs lie in the dictionary

  1. let one's short back and sides down
  2. let oneself go
  3. let out
  4. let past
  5. let rip
  6. let sleeping dogs lie
  7. let slide
  8. let slip
  9. let someone down gently
  10. let someone go
  11. let someone have it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: let sleeping dogs lie (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-let sleeping dogs lie.ogg.

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