nip in the bud

Idioms  

1. Halt something at an early stage, or thoroughly check something. For example, By arresting all the leaders, they nipped the rebellion in the bud. This metaphoric expression, alluding to a spring frost that kills flower buds, was first recorded in a Beaumont and Fletcher play of 1606–1607.

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Example Sentences

Walsh suggested to Sir Jeffrey that he had gone because it was "something you needed to nip in the bud".

From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026

This is a rare emergent epidemic that we can still nip in the bud.

From Salon • Oct. 19, 2023

That sets up the kind of clown-car spectacle that a Chief Justice Roberts—who would prefer to participate in this senate trial from behind a bulletproof screen—would perhaps be moved to nip in the bud.

From Slate • Jan. 15, 2020

Today, the Since 9/11 charity runs counter-extremism programs in British schools, aiming to nip in the bud the impulses that led to 9/11 and to the attacks that have since taken place in Britain.

From Washington Post • Sep. 10, 2018

Was this the staid young lawyer who had determined to see no more of this red-haired girl—to nip in the bud any feeling he might have developed for her?

From The Comings of Cousin Ann by Sampson, Emma Speed