he who hesitates is lost in English

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{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
    },
    {
      "word": "look before you leap"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "he who hesitates is lost"
      },
      "expansion": "he who hesitates is lost",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who spends too much time contemplating what to do may miss a valuable but fleeting opportunity."
      ],
      "id": "en-he_who_hesitates_is_lost-en-proverb-eCsG4J4G",
      "links": [
        [
          "contemplating",
          "contemplating"
        ],
        [
          "miss",
          "miss"
        ],
        [
          "valuable",
          "valuable"
        ],
        [
          "fleeting",
          "fleeting"
        ],
        [
          "opportunity",
          "opportunity"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "carpe diem"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "he who hesitates is lost"
}

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{
  "antonyms": [
    {
      "word": "fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
    },
    {
      "word": "look before you leap"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "he who hesitates is lost"
      },
      "expansion": "he who hesitates is lost",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who spends too much time contemplating what to do may miss a valuable but fleeting opportunity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "contemplating",
          "contemplating"
        ],
        [
          "miss",
          "miss"
        ],
        [
          "valuable",
          "valuable"
        ],
        [
          "fleeting",
          "fleeting"
        ],
        [
          "opportunity",
          "opportunity"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "carpe diem"
    }
  ],
  "word": "he who hesitates is lost"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-20 using wiktextract (074e7de and f1c2b61). 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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"he who hesitates is lost" meaning in English

Proverb

Alternative forms