verb phrase🎓 English idiom
put the cart before the horse
to do things in the wrong order
What it means
To do things in the wrong order, especially by tackling a later step before an essential earlier one. It suggests a reversal of logical priorities that makes the whole effort less effective.
Words like “put the cart before the horse” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- Buying furniture before you've even signed the lease is putting the cart before the horse.
- Don't put the cart before the horse by planning the party before anyone has agreed to come.
- We're putting the cart before the horse if we design the logo before naming the company.
- Hiring staff before securing funding really is putting the cart before the horse.
Where it comes from
The image of a cart placed in front of the horse that should pull it dates back centuries; versions appear in English by the 1500s, with similar phrasings found in classical Greek and Latin writers.
Related idioms
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