Idiom
writing on the wall
Meaning
An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The company is failing and everyone sees the writing on the wall.”
“I see the writing on the wall for our old car.”
“After the manager resigned and sales dropped, the staff saw the writing on the wall for the department.”
“When the landlord stopped fixing the leaks and put a 'For Sale' sign outside, the tenants saw the writing on the wall.”
“You should look at the writing on the wall before you invest more money into a business that loses customers every month.”
“Despite the optimistic speeches from the board, the sudden departure of key investors served as the writing on the wall for the struggling enterprise.”
Examples
simple
“The company is failing and everyone sees the writing on the wall.”
“I see the writing on the wall for our old car.”
contextual
“After the manager resigned and sales dropped, the staff saw the writing on the wall for the department.”
“When the landlord stopped fixing the leaks and put a 'For Sale' sign outside, the tenants saw the writing on the wall.”
“You should look at the writing on the wall before you invest more money into a business that loses customers every month.”
complex
“Despite the optimistic speeches from the board, the sudden departure of key investors served as the writing on the wall for the struggling enterprise.”
Origin
From the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”) (Daniel 5:25). Daniel interprets the words as pointing to the downfall of the Babylonian Empire.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated