Nip in the bud

To stop a small situation from becoming a big problem and an even bigger headache it needs a good nip in the bud.

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English Idiom: Nip (something) in the bud

If we nip a problem in the bud, we stop it before it becomes a big problem or gets out of hand.


This practice comes from removing flowers while they are still buds and have not bloomed.

Just recently, another Japanese government minister uttered something that should not have been said.

When will they ever learn to watch their tongues?

What happened?

Well before the scandal could get out of hand, the situation was nipped in the bud, and the minister resigned.

The minister is gone, the problem is solved, and please forget it ever happened.

If you have children, then you must be a professional at crisis management/prevention.

Maybe your little ones started sneaking snacks between meals, and you put an end to that.

Maybe they were doing their homework on the train on the way to school in the morning, and you helped them form better study habits (better to do it the night before).

Children like to throw their dirty clothes on the floor, not in the laundry basket.

You haven’t nipped that in the bud yet, but you’re working on it.

See, if you’re a parent, you’re a professional – a professional bud-nipper.


This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).  

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 76.  

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100. 



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