Chesterton's fence in English

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{
  "etymology_text": "From a parable by G.K. Chesterton, suggesting that one should not remove a fence until one learns why it was erected in the first place.",
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      "expansion": "Chesterton's fence (uncountable)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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      "glosses": [
        "The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood."
      ],
      "id": "en-Chesterton's_fence-en-noun-GSEX8-vs",
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        "(public policy) The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Chesterton's fence"
}

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{
  "etymology_text": "From a parable by G.K. Chesterton, suggesting that one should not remove a fence until one learns why it was erected in the first place.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Chesterton's fence (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "principle",
          "principle"
        ],
        [
          "reform",
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        ],
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        "(public policy) The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Chesterton's fence"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (ddb1505 and 9905b1f). 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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"Chesterton's fence" meaning in English

Noun