look before you leap
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
But then ' One ought to look after one's parents ' derives, like ' Look before you leap ', from a general decision following the same procedures as his particular decisions, and it too can claim no stronger authority.
TBILISI – Look before you leap is as sound a principle in foreign ~ policy as it is in life.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Common questions
What does “look before you leap” mean?
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
Is “look before you leap” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.