Phrase guide

a camel is a horse designed by a committee

proverb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

proverb

Meaning 1

Too many people on one project can spoil it by having conflicting or inexperienced ideas.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The distinguishing features of a camel, like its humps, plate-shaped feet, habitual spitting, strange shape and poor temperament, can be seen as the sort of deformities that typify the sort of ideas that committees come up with that make projects bad.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: kameli on komitean suunnittelema hevonen — critique on committees
  • French: trop de cuisiniers gâtent la sauce — critique on committees
  • Korean: 낙타는 위원회가 고안한 말이다 (nakta-neun wiwonhoe-ga goanhan marida) — critique on committees
  • Korean: 뱃사공이 많으면 배가 산으로 간다 (baetsagong-i maneumyeon baega saneuro ganda) — critique on committees
  • Polish: gdzie kucharek sześć, tam nie ma co jeść — critique on committees