"see the trees through the forest" meaning in All languages combined

See see the trees through the forest on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: sees the trees through the forest [present, singular, third-person], seeing the trees through the forest [participle, present], saw the trees through the forest [past], seen the trees through the forest [participle, past]
Etymology: Inversion of see the forest through the trees. Head templates: {{en-verb|see<,,saw,seen> the trees through the forest}} see the trees through the forest (third-person singular simple present sees the trees through the forest, present participle seeing the trees through the forest, simple past saw the trees through the forest, past participle seen the trees through the forest)
  1. (idiomatic) To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-see_the_trees_through_the_forest-en-verb-GLwlKduY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for see the trees through the forest meaning in All languages combined (3.0kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Inversion of see the forest through the trees.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sees the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "seeing the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "saw the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "seen the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "see<,,saw,seen> the trees through the forest"
      },
      "expansion": "see the trees through the forest (third-person singular simple present sees the trees through the forest, present participle seeing the trees through the forest, simple past saw the trees through the forest, past participle seen the trees through the forest)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "see the forest for the trees"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, Gordon Canfield (quoted), Treasury-Post Office Departments Appropriations for 1954, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 741",
          "text": "They naturally become very close to the personnel, supervisory and otherwise, and also the areas that they have to inspect, and sometimes I think they are unable to see the trees through the forest or the forest through the trees.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Robert Bruck (quoted), Effects of Air Pollution and Acid Rain on Forest Decline, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 43",
          "text": "However, very often it is difficult to see the trees through the forest, if I may make a pun.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 April 21, Richard J. Morris, Disability Research and Policy: Current Perspectives, Routledge, page 99",
          "text": "To summarize, in a reductionistic orientation the practitioner cannot \"see the forest through the trees\"; and in a holistic orientation the practitioner may fail to \"see the trees through the forest.\" Either orientation is not complete in itself, and there is no philosophical basis that is superior to another.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 12, Julia Kuo, Michael Wojtech, Drawing Trees and Leaves: Observing and Sketching the Natural World, page 46",
          "text": "With a little understanding of the structure of bark, and the vital functions it serves, its details come alive, providing both a means to see the trees through the forest and a bounty of colors and textures to enjoy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture."
      ],
      "id": "en-see_the_trees_through_the_forest-en-verb-GLwlKduY",
      "links": [
        [
          "detail",
          "detail"
        ],
        [
          "big picture",
          "big picture"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "see the trees through the forest"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Inversion of see the forest through the trees.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sees the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "seeing the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "saw the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "seen the trees through the forest",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "see<,,saw,seen> the trees through the forest"
      },
      "expansion": "see the trees through the forest (third-person singular simple present sees the trees through the forest, present participle seeing the trees through the forest, simple past saw the trees through the forest, past participle seen the trees through the forest)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "see the forest for the trees"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953, Gordon Canfield (quoted), Treasury-Post Office Departments Appropriations for 1954, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 741",
          "text": "They naturally become very close to the personnel, supervisory and otherwise, and also the areas that they have to inspect, and sometimes I think they are unable to see the trees through the forest or the forest through the trees.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Robert Bruck (quoted), Effects of Air Pollution and Acid Rain on Forest Decline, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 43",
          "text": "However, very often it is difficult to see the trees through the forest, if I may make a pun.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 April 21, Richard J. Morris, Disability Research and Policy: Current Perspectives, Routledge, page 99",
          "text": "To summarize, in a reductionistic orientation the practitioner cannot \"see the forest through the trees\"; and in a holistic orientation the practitioner may fail to \"see the trees through the forest.\" Either orientation is not complete in itself, and there is no philosophical basis that is superior to another.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 12, Julia Kuo, Michael Wojtech, Drawing Trees and Leaves: Observing and Sketching the Natural World, page 46",
          "text": "With a little understanding of the structure of bark, and the vital functions it serves, its details come alive, providing both a means to see the trees through the forest and a bounty of colors and textures to enjoy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "detail",
          "detail"
        ],
        [
          "big picture",
          "big picture"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To appreciate the details of something, as opposed to only focusing on the big picture."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "see the trees through the forest"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-06-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-06-06 using wiktextract (6c02f21 and 0136956). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.