the more you know

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. Used to imply that a piece of information that otherwise seems trivial or uninteresting might represent valuable knowledge.

Word forms

the more you know

Etymology

An ellipsis (specifically, an anapodoton) representing the first part of a comparative correlative construction. Popularized by The More You Know (1989–present), an NBCUniversal series of public service announcements that features educational messages. The phrase's association with the emoji 🌠 is inspired by the graphics that accompany the phrase in that series. Collocations such as the more you know, the better [X] long predate the PSA series, but the more you know as an anapodoton seems not to predate it.

Related words

the more you know, the higher you go TIL you learn something new every day knowing is half the battle you don't know the half of it
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