see the writing on the wall

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

to perceive clear signs that something bad or significant is going to happen, to recognise an omen or warning that a situation is doomed or will change dramatically; the idiom originates in the Biblical Book of Daniel (Chapter 5), in which the Babylonian king Belshazzar sees a disembodied hand writing mysterious words — Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin — on the palace wall during a feast; Daniel interprets the writing as a divine judgement predicting the imminent end of Belshazzar's kingdom, which is indeed conquered by the Persians that night; the phrase entered English as an idiom for perceiving signs of impending doom that are clear to those willing to look; in modern usage it is used when someone acknowledges evidence of failure, decline, or change that others may prefer to ignore — a CEO who sees the writing on the wall and begins succession planning, an investor who sees the writing on the wall in deteriorating fundamentals