the last drop makes the cup run over
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A small addition can cause a situation to become too much to handle
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Một sự bổ sung nhỏ có thể khiến tình huống trở nên quá tải
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: water overflowing from a cup
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 “the last drop makes the cup run over” mean?
A small addition can cause a situation to become too much to handle Literally: water overflowing from a cup
Is “the last drop makes the cup run over” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.