for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Small oversights can lead to significant consequences
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Những thiếu sót nhỏ có thể dẫn đến hậu quả lớn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a sequence of losses due to a single missing nail
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost” mean?
Small oversights can lead to significant consequences Literally: a sequence of losses due to a single missing nail
Is “for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.