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Better safe than sorry

  1. It is better to act cautiously beforehand than to suffer afterward.



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Idioms and Phrases

Being careful may avoid disaster, as in I'm not taking any short-cuts—better safe than sorry. This cautionary phrase appeared as better sure than sorry in 1837.
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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I report on these issues, and I can see how even I might question whether to take Tylenol during a pregnancy—not because I think the president is correct, but because “Better safe than sorry” dictates so many of the choices pregnant women make, and what if?

From Slate

All the same, better safe than sorry.

“So much of pregnancy advice is based on fear and a ‘better safe than sorry’ sort of framework.”

Many people take a bit of this, and a bit of that, so better safe than sorry.

With so many lives lost there, he said, officials may have felt they were “better safe than sorry.”

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