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Meaning of "thin end of the wedge" in the English dictionary

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PRONUNCIATION OF THIN END OF THE WEDGE

thin end of the wedge play
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WHAT DOES THIN END OF THE WEDGE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Camel's nose

The camel's nose is a metaphor for a situation where the permitting of a small, seemingly innocuous act will open the door for larger, clearly undesirable actions. A typical usage is this, from U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater in 1958: This bill and the foregoing remarks of the majority remind me of an old Arabian proverb: "If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow." If adopted, the legislation will mark the inception of aid, supervision, and ultimately control of education in this country by the federal authorities. According to Geoffrey Nunberg, the image entered the English language in the middle of the 19th century. An early example is a fable printed in 1858 in which an Arab miller allows a camel to stick its nose into his bedroom, then other parts of its body, until the camel is entirely inside and refuses to leave. Lydia Sigourney wrote another version, a widely reprinted poem for children, in which the camel enters a shop because the workman does not forbid it at any stage.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE THIN END OF THE WEDGE

thin
thin client
thin on the ground
thin skin
thin-film
thin-layer chromatography
thin-lipped
thin-skinned
thinclad
thindown
thine
thing
thing-in-itself
thingamabob
thingamajig
thingamy
thingamybob
thingamyjig
thinghood
thinginess

WORDS THAT END LIKE THIN END OF THE WEDGE

accretionary wedge
acknowledge
common knowledge
competitive edge
cutting edge
cutting-edge
edge
general knowledge
hedge
knowledge
leading edge
leading-edge
ledge
on edge
pitching wedge
pledge
sand wedge
sledge
to my knowledge
wedge

Synonyms and antonyms of thin end of the wedge in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «thin end of the wedge» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF THIN END OF THE WEDGE

Find out the translation of thin end of the wedge to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of thin end of the wedge from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «thin end of the wedge» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

楔子的薄端
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

extremo delgado de la cuña
570 millions of speakers

English

thin end of the wedge
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

कील की पतली अंत
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

نهاية رقيقة من إسفين
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

тонкий конец клина
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

extremidade fina da cunha
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

ওয়েজ এর পাতলা শেষ
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

fin de l´iceberg
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Akhir nipis baji
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

dünne Ende des Keils
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

くさびの薄い終わり
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

웨지 의 얇은 단부
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Tipis irisan saka irisan
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

cuối mỏng nêm
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

ஆடையின் மெல்லிய முடிவு
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

पाचर घालून घट्ट बसवणे च्या पातळ शेवट
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Kamanın ince ucu
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

estremità sottile del cuneo
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

Cienka koniec klina
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

тонкий кінець клина
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

capăt subțire a penei
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

λεπτό άκρο της σφήνας
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

dun end van die wig
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

tunna änden av kilen
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

tynne ende av kilen
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of thin end of the wedge

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «THIN END OF THE WEDGE»

The term «thin end of the wedge» is quite widely used and occupies the 48.783 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
78
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «thin end of the wedge» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of thin end of the wedge
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «thin end of the wedge».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «THIN END OF THE WEDGE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «thin end of the wedge» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «thin end of the wedge» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about thin end of the wedge

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «THIN END OF THE WEDGE»

Discover the use of thin end of the wedge in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to thin end of the wedge and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office
In a casing perforator the combination of a tool body provided with a wedge shaped portion having tbe thin end of the wedge downward, main slips movable on the faces of the wedge shaped portion having portions thereof wedge shaped with ...
United States. Patent Office, 1910
2
Geological Magazine
This experiment shows that, other things being equal, the distance of the black line from the thin end of the wedge is proportional to the thickness of the quartz on the stage of the microscope. If we now substitute for the quartz on the stage of  ...
Henry Woodward, 1888
3
High Temperature Corrosion and Materials Chemistry III: ...
However, at the thin end of the wedge, where the aluminium content has dropped below Cnosh, the formation of dark areas of breakaway oxide can be observed. Thin Foils On very thin parallel- sided foils (<200um), spallation of the oxide is ...
Michael McNallan, Elizabeth J. Opila, 2001
4
God, the Devil, and Darwin : A Critique of Intelligent ...
... to sit on theological foundations. In this way, critical thinking and opposition will not just be hard but literally unthinkable! In this book, I am concerned mainly with the issues at the thin end of the wedge, where there are three basic issues ...
Niall Shanks Curtis D. Gridley Professor in the History and Philosophy of Science Wichita State University, 2004
5
God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique of Intelligent Design ...
... thinking and opposition will not just be hard but literally unthinkable! In this book, I am concerned mainly with the issues at the thin end of the wedge, where there are three basic issues. First, there is opposition to the philosophy of naturalism ...
Niall Shanks, 2004
6
Nature
The difiiculty in getting, say, iron-grey of the first order depends on the extreme thinness of the quartz required at the thin end of the wedge. Now the interference colour given by plates of equal thickness of the same mineral depends on the ...
Sir Norman Lockyer, 1906
7
The Physics of Radiation Therapy
A mechanism is provided to align the thin end of the wedge with the border of the light field (Fig. 11.8A). The second system uses a universal wedge; that is, a single wedge serves for all beam widths. Such a filter is fixed centrally in the beam, ...
Faiz M. Khan, 2012
8
Science: The Definitive Visual Guide
A wood screw is a wedge wrapped around a shaft The thin end of the wedge is easily driven into the solid Simple and complex wedges A wedge has one sharp ( or at least thin) edge which can be pushed or hammered into a solid to pry it ...
‎2009
9
The Sunday Magazine
... blade of the pocket-knife gets rough and jagged it is " no good " ; and if you tried to drive a wedge that had a double edge into a piece of timber, you might shatter the wedge but you couldn't split the wood. Get the thin end of the wedge into ...
‎1892
10
New Understanding Physics for Advanced Level
They are contours of equal wedge thickness, parallel to the thin end of the wedge . At each dark fringe, the thickness is given by 2t = m\0 (for an air wedge), or t = m\ j2. From one dark fringe to the next, the wedge thickness increases by A0/2.
Jim Breithaupt, 2000

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «THIN END OF THE WEDGE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term thin end of the wedge is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Saint Laurent's skinny model is just the thin end of the wedge
I've also defended elements of it, too, saying that the value of an industry expressly aimed at women and largely staffed by women, from the high-end designers ... «The Guardian, Jun 15»
2
Cantillon: Is 'fat tax' idea the thin end of the wedge?
A dire new World Health Organisation study warns that Irish people are on course to become the most obese in Europe by 2030. Such findings raise questions ... «Irish Times, May 15»
3
Women's Football - Is Jill Scott the Thin End of the Wedge?
April 2015 saw her being sent off while playing for Manchester City, after a head butt, so I'm wondering if she represents the thin end of the wedge for the ... «Huffington Post UK, Apr 15»
4
'Zero Overtime Bill' is the thin end of the wedge for workers' rights
The more overtime hours you put in hanging around the office, the more money you make, so workers use the current system and end up working long hours. «The Japan Times, Apr 15»
5
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Chilling question no GP should have to ask
But isn't Professor Patrick Pullicino nearer the mark when he warns: 'This is the thin end of the wedge of assisted suicide'? In 2012, this paper spearheaded the ... «Daily Mail, Apr 15»
6
Spat continues as Elliott responds to Alliance Trust's 'personal attacks'
She said: “Your board believes this is just the thin end of the wedge and they would then pursue disruptive actions, to the detriment of other shareholders, ... «Investment Week, Mar 15»
7
PLANNING: Fears that Barton Marina development is thin end of the
PLANNING: Fears that Barton Marina development is thin end of the wedge for housing. By Burton Mail | Posted: December 08, 2014. By Laura Hammond. «Burton Mail, Dec 14»
8
£160m squeeze on block grant the thin end of the wedge: Executive …
£160m squeeze on block grant the thin end of the wedge: Executive told to cut £1.3bn from expenditure by 2019. By Noel McAdam. Published 04/11/2014 | 12: ... «Belfast Telegraph, Nov 14»
9
Gold Price - The Thin End of the Wedge
The coming of the end of QE has seen the dollar improve especially over the last 3 ... As gold is at the thin end of the wedge then a breakout will be upon us in a ... «The Market Oracle, Sep 14»
10
Theatre's decision to ban Jewish film festival is 'thin end of wedge'
"This was most definitely the thin end of the wedge. Who is she to say this film is right and this film is wrong? We have our own creative curator and our own ... «The Guardian, Aug 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Thin end of the wedge [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/thin-end-of-the-wedge>. Apr 2024 ».
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