Word.ws English Dictionary

saw the forest for the trees

saw the forest for the trees is the simple past of see the forest for the trees.

Meaning of see the forest for the trees

Verb

see the forest for the trees (third-person singular simple present sees the forest for the trees, present participle seeing the forest for the trees, simple past saw the forest for the trees, past participle seen the forest for the trees)

  1. (idiomatic) To discern an overall pattern from a mass of detail; to see the big picture, or the broader, more general situation.
    • Smith is good at detail, but can't see the forest for the trees.

Questions about saw the forest for the trees

What is saw the forest for the trees the simple past of?
Saw the forest for the trees is the simple past of see the forest for the trees.

Words near saw the forest for the trees in the dictionary

  1. saw the back of
  2. saw the dark side of the moon
  3. saw the day
  4. saw the elephant
  5. saw the error of one's ways
  6. saw the forest for the trees
  7. saw the glass half-empty
  8. saw the glass half-full
  9. saw the last of
  10. saw the light
  11. saw the light of day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: saw the forest for the trees (page history and authors); see the forest for the trees (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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