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

Still, to nip in the bud any thought that Merritt might be mistaken for Richardson, "If he cut his hair, I would greatly appreciate it," the lanky Richardson said.

From Reuters • Jun. 27, 2012

I know that the immediate often swallows up the ultimate; that the five thousand rupees of today may nip in the bud the fifty thousand rupees of tomorrow.

From The Home and the World by Tagore, Rabindranath