"sting in the tail" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stings in the tail",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stings in tails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stings in the tail",
        "2": "stings in tails"
      },
      "expansion": "sting in the tail (plural stings in the tail or stings in tails)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The Budget comes with a sting in the tail – future tax increases.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 December 14, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Tightening the purse strings”, in RAIL, number 972, page 3:",
          "text": "The sting in the tail is that an appropriate level of service could be far lower than we see today. With funding best described as tight, we look to be entering a painful period for rail.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something surprising and unpleasant that concludes a chain of events."
      ],
      "id": "en-sting_in_the_tail-en-noun-vWB8Z6Fw",
      "links": [
        [
          "surprising",
          "surprising"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "conclude",
          "conclude"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sting in the tail"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stings in the tail",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stings in tails",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "stings in the tail",
        "2": "stings in tails"
      },
      "expansion": "sting in the tail (plural stings in the tail or stings in tails)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The Budget comes with a sting in the tail – future tax increases.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 December 14, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Tightening the purse strings”, in RAIL, number 972, page 3:",
          "text": "The sting in the tail is that an appropriate level of service could be far lower than we see today. With funding best described as tight, we look to be entering a painful period for rail.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something surprising and unpleasant that concludes a chain of events."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surprising",
          "surprising"
        ],
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "conclude",
          "conclude"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sting in the tail"
}