the tail wags the dog

phrase

A minor or secondary part of something is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. A minor or secondary part of something is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part.
    1 more example

    This is classic for all non-profit agencies: the tail wags the dog. If you have a foundation willing to fund a particular kind of program, then an organization will write that kind of grant. Suddenly, you're doing a program to where the bucks are. Maybe that's not within the original mission of the mission.

    1987 May 9, Gordon Gottlieb, Richard Burns, Sue Hyde, “Homocrats and Liberationists: Burns and Hyde Consider the Community's Institutions”, in Gay Community News, page 8

Origin

See tail wagging the dog.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

the tail wags the dog. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20tail%20wags%20the%20dog

MLA

“the tail wags the dog.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20tail%20wags%20the%20dog. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “the tail wags the dog,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20tail%20wags%20the%20dog.

Source: the tail wags the dog on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.