fly in the ointment
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.
The only fly in the ointment might be what executives say about the rest of this year.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
But there is still one fly in the ointment: researchers have not yet succeeded in reproducing all the crucial details of the observations in model calculations.
From Science Daily • Apr. 12, 2024
“The goat is like a fly in the ointment of perfection,” Freeman says.
From New York Times • Dec. 27, 2023
"The drop in inflation in the U.S. is encouraging, although the fly in the ointment is that this drop is largely coming from energy and goods prices," the report said.
From Reuters • Jan. 17, 2023
The fly in the ointment was that there was too much work for Jet and not enough for me.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
