when you're in a hole, stop digging
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Stop making a situation worse by continuing a harmful action
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Ngừng làm cho tình hình tồi tệ hơn bằng cách tiếp tục hành động có hại
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: digging a hole deeper
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 “when you're in a hole, stop digging” mean?
Stop making a situation worse by continuing a harmful action Literally: digging a hole deeper
Is “when you're in a hole, stop digging” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.