last straw
23
4.4
- idiom
- Informal
- For Sarah, the repeated late nights at work were the last straw, leading her to resign.
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Watch on YouTubeBecause it just, that's, that's the last straw.
- Because it just, that's, that's the last straw.
- So, yeah, COVID was the last straw.
- And that's just what was like the last straw and which shouldn't have been the last straw, but that's just that.
Examples
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So, what was the last straw?
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That was the last straw for Robert's enemies.
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- This is the last straw.
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That was the last straw.
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This is the last straw.
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What was the last straw?
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This is the last straw!
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That was the last straw.
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That was the last straw, Cole.
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The last straw came when I was at the morning worship service.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
40
3.9
The moment when a person or thing can no longer handle pressure
20
3.9
The final small problem that makes someone lose patience and act
Antonyms
How Annoying
Surface Forms
Morphology
last + straw
The element 'last' clearly signals 'final', and 'straw' evokes a small, insignificant item, so learners can partly infer the idea of a final small thing that makes a situation unbearable. However the specific sense ('final annoyance that makes someone lose patience') relies on the metaphor from the proverb 'the straw that broke the camel's back' and cultural/pragmatic knowledge, so the meaning is not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Last straw comes from the picture of a camel carrying a heavy load: after many things, one tiny straw added at the end can make the camel collapse. That's why last straw means the final small problem that makes a person 'lose patience' or makes a situation 'become too much'.