the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: the nail that sticks up gets hammered down
Meaning · English
Conformity is enforced, and nonconformists are punished
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Sự tuân thủ được áp đặt và những người không tuân thủ sẽ bị trừng phạt
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a protruding nail being hammered flat
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 nail that sticks out gets hammered down” mean?
Conformity is enforced, and nonconformists are punished Literally: a protruding nail being hammered flat
Is “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.