see the wood for the trees
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Focus on the main issue, not minor details
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
chú trọng vào vấn đề chính, không phải chi tiết nhỏ
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: perceive the forest despite the individual trees
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She's so caught up in tiny problems, she can't see 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 “see the wood for the trees” mean?
Focus on the main issue, not minor details Literally: perceive the forest despite the individual trees
Is “see 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.