miss the wood for the trees
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Focus on details and miss the overall picture
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Chú trọng vào chi tiết và bỏ qua bức tranh tổng thể
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: overlook the forest while looking at individual trees
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He was so concerned with individual test results that he missed the wood for the trees
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “miss the wood for the trees” mean?
Focus on details and miss the overall picture Literally: overlook the forest while looking at individual trees
Is “miss the wood for the trees” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.