Word.ws English Dictionary

saw the trees through the forest

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

Meaning of see the trees through the forest

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture.
    • They naturally become very close to the personnel, supervisory and otherwise, and also the areas that they have to inspect, and sometimes I think they are unable to see the trees through the forest or the forest through the trees.1953, Gordon Canfield (quoted), Treasury-Post Office Departments Appropriations for 1954, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 741

Questions about saw the trees through the forest

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

Words near saw the trees through the forest in the dictionary

  1. saw the last of
  2. saw the light
  3. saw the light of day
  4. saw the point
  5. saw the same way
  6. saw the trees through the forest
  7. saw the way clear to
  8. saw the woods for the trees
  9. saw the world
  10. saw things
  11. saw through

Source and license

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