English Explanatory Dictionary

the nail that sticks out gets hammered down

English dictionary entry

Meanings

proverb
  1. Those who are too different or conspicuous get criticized or sanctioned by others.

Word forms

the nail that sticks out gets hammered down

Etymology

Calque of Japanese 出る釘は打たれる (deru kugi wa utareru)

Related words

crab mentality keep one's head down Law of Jante tall poppy syndrome tall trees catch much wind
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on T Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary