the fox, when he cannot reach the grapes, says they are not ripe
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Describes someone expressing discontent or disparagement towards something unattainable
Miêu tả người thể hiện sự không hài lòng với điều không đạt được
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). 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 “the fox, when he cannot reach the grapes, says they are not ripe” mean?
Describes someone expressing discontent or disparagement towards something unattainable Literally: a fox complaining about grapes it can't reach
Is “the fox, when he cannot reach the grapes, says they are not ripe” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.