Etymology

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

Today it means: An organization is only as strong or powerful as its weakest person; a group of associates is only as competent as its laziest member. Full definition →

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The story

First appeared in Thomas Reid’s Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, published in 1786. The full idiom a chain is no stronger than its weakest link was first printed in Cornhill Magazine in 1868.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.