"if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" meaning in All languages combined

See if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Etymology: Likely traditional. In this form, perhaps from Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science, 1966, page 15 and his earlier book Abraham H. Maslow (1962), Toward a Psychology of Being: : I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. Similar concept by Abraham Kaplan, The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science, 1964, page 28: : I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. Labeled "Baruch's Observation" (after Bernard Baruch) in The Complete Murphy's Law: A Definitive Collection (1991) by Arthur Bloch. Also often attributed, without citation, to Mark Twain (for example in Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, page 9). Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
  1. With limited tools, single-minded people apply them inappropriately or indiscriminately.
    Sense id: en-if_all_you_have_is_a_hammer,_everything_looks_like_a_nail-en-proverb-GO1Y7nBL
  2. If a person is familiar with a certain, single subject, or has with them a certain, single instrument, they may have a confirmation bias to believe that it is the answer to/involved in everything. Synonyms: when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail Related terms: Maslow's hammer, there's more than one way to skin a cat (english: has a somewhat opposite meaning)
    Sense id: en-if_all_you_have_is_a_hammer,_everything_looks_like_a_nail-en-proverb-bH52CMG2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 72 Disambiguation of English proverbs: 13 87 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 26 74 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 25 75
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          "word": "there's more than one way to skin a cat"
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  "etymology_text": "Likely traditional. In this form, perhaps from Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science, 1966, page 15 and his earlier book\nAbraham H. Maslow (1962), Toward a Psychology of Being:\n: I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.\nSimilar concept by Abraham Kaplan, The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science, 1964, page 28:\n: I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.\nLabeled \"Baruch's Observation\" (after Bernard Baruch) in The Complete Murphy's Law: A Definitive Collection (1991) by Arthur Bloch.\nAlso often attributed, without citation, to Mark Twain (for example in Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind, page 9).",
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}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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