Idiom
last straw
Meaning
A small addition to an already heavy burden which causes it to exceed the capacity.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“That rude comment was the last straw for me.”
“The printer jammed again, and that was the last straw, so I threw it in the trash.”
“After months of missed deadlines and broken promises, the final delay proved to be the last straw, compelling the board to terminate the manager's contract immediately.”
Examples
simple
“That rude comment was the last straw for me.”
contextual
“The printer jammed again, and that was the last straw, so I threw it in the trash.”
complex
“After months of missed deadlines and broken promises, the final delay proved to be the last straw, compelling the board to terminate the manager's contract immediately.”
Origin
From the mid-19th-century proverb 'the last straw that breaks the camel's back' (an earlier version had a feather breaking a horse's back).
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated