Meanings
- A limited understanding of a subject can lead individuals to overestimate their expertise, often resulting in errors or misguided decisions due to false confidence.
Of course anybody can saw off a limb; but here, as so often happens, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and a little more will often save a dear old friend of the family and the neighborhood.
1926, Francis Blake Atkinson, Hallam Hawksworth, A Year in the Wonderland of Trees, page 176Synonyms: a little learning is a dangerous thing
Synonyms & antonyms
proverbA limited understanding of a subject can lead individuals to overestimate their expertise, often resulting in errors or misguided decisions due to false confidence.
Origin
A slight misquotation of Alexander Pope’s a little learning is a dangerous thing. The earliest use dates from a magazine published in 1774.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20little%20knowledge%20is%20a%20dangerous%20thing
“a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20little%20knowledge%20is%20a%20dangerous%20thing. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/a%20little%20knowledge%20is%20a%20dangerous%20thing.
Source: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.