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  • Better safe than sorry
    Better safe than sorry
    It is better to act cautiously beforehand than to suffer afterward.
  • better safe than sorry
    better safe than sorry
    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.

Better safe than sorry

Cultural  

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

better safe than sorry Idioms  

  1. 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.

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.

Better safe than sorry, dive teams and boats were on standby in case of emergency.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 8, 2021

Better safe than sorry, as the saying goes, and even in a democracy better ignorant than sorry, too.

From Salon • Jun. 21, 2017

The alligator mindset is: Better safe than sorry.

From Slate • Jun. 16, 2016

Better safe than sorry will remain the plan with sidelined Ducks players Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2014

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.