connect the dots

 

From the children's pencil and paper puzzle “Connect The Dots”, also known as “Join The Dots”.

connect the dots (third-person singular simple present connects the dots, present participle connecting the dots, simple past and past participle connected the dots)

1. (literally) To attempt to complete a puzzle in which dots on a paper must be connected in a specific order so that the joining lines form a picture.
   • 1991, Roberta Collier, The Little Animal Follow-The-Dots Coloring Book, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 3:

     To connect the dots, use a pen or pencil and draw a line from dot 1 to dot 2, from dot 2 to dot 3 and so on until all the dots are connected. You can try to guess what kind of animal is shown in the picture before you connect the dots.

2. (by extension, idiomatic) To make connections in one's mind, in order to arrive at a more holistic understanding of a situation.
   • 2003 September 25, Thomas L. Friedman, quoting Clyde Prestowitz, “Connect The Dots”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     If only the Bush team connected the dots, it would see what a nutty war on terrorism it is fighting, explains Mr. Prestowitz.

   • 2023 July 9, AP, quoting Chris Gloninger, “‘You should have seen this note’: US meteorologists harassed for reporting on climate crisis”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     “I started just connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change, and then the volume of pushback started to increase quite dramatically,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

• join the dots

• dot to dot

• put two and two together

•   connect the dots on Wikipedia.Wikipedia