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  • Too many cooks spoil the broth
    Too many cooks spoil the broth
    When too many people work together on a project, the result is inferior.
  • too many cooks spoil the broth
    too many cooks spoil the broth
    Too many persons involved in managing an activity can ruin it, as in Without a conductor, every player had an idea for how the music should go—too many cooks spoil the broth. This expression alludes to each of many cooks adding something to a soup, which finally tastes awful. It was already considered a proverb in 1575 (by George Gascoigne in The Life of P. Care).

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Cultural  
  1. When too many people work together on a project, the result is inferior.


too many cooks spoil the broth Idioms  
  1. Too many persons involved in managing an activity can ruin it, as in Without a conductor, every player had an idea for how the music should go—too many cooks spoil the broth. This expression alludes to each of many cooks adding something to a soup, which finally tastes awful. It was already considered a proverb in 1575 (by George Gascoigne in The Life of P. Care).


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.

But with a story-heavy game like this, too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say, so slow and steady it was.

From The Verge • Jul. 27, 2021

Q: In English, we say too many cooks spoil the broth.

From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2016

When do too many cooks spoil the broth?

From Forbes • Jan. 16, 2012

We sometimes hear arguments against collaborating, but in our experience the old adage that too many cooks spoil the broth doesn't hold.

From The Guardian • Apr. 6, 2011

It is a trite saying that "too many cooks spoil the broth," but in this instance the saying was verified.

From Western Worthies A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland Celebrities by Jeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)

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