Meaning & use
look before you leap
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Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
Used to advise someone to consider the possible risks or consequences before taking action.
Grammar: A fixed saying. It usually stands alone as a sentence or follows 'you should' or 'remember to'.
Patterns
- remember to look before you leap
- you should look before you leap
- look before you leap into something
Before you sign that contract, remember to look before you leap.
She always looks before she leaps, so she rarely makes costly mistakes.
Look before you leap—that investment could be riskier than it seems.
Common combinations
- look before you leap into something
- Don't look before you leap into a new job without checking the company first.
- a look-before-you-leap approach
- Their look-before-you-leap approach saved them from a bad deal.
- you should look before you leap
- You should look before you leap when choosing a university.
Synonyms and how they differ
- think twice
- Means to reconsider carefully; it focuses on hesitation, while 'look before you leap' stresses checking the risks first.
- forewarned is forearmed
- Another proverb meaning that knowing about a danger helps you prepare; it is more formal and less common in speech.
Opposites
Commonly confused: look before you leap or leap of faith?
look before you leap vs leap of faith
A 'leap of faith' means believing something without proof, which is almost the opposite of checking first.
Practice
What does the proverb 'look before you leap' advise you to do?
Choose one answer.
'Look before you leap' means to examine the situation and possible dangers before acting. Acting quickly without thinking is the opposite of this advice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “look before you leap”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.