Word.ws English Dictionary

seen the forest for the trees

seen the forest for the trees is the past participle 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 seen the forest for the trees

What is seen the forest for the trees the past participle of?
Seen the forest for the trees is the past participle of see the forest for the trees.

Words near seen the forest for the trees in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: seen 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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Cite this entry: “seen the forest for the trees.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/seen_the_forest_for_the_trees. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.