the fine print

fine print

The details of a contract or other document that are important but easily overlooked (often due to very small size of the text.) If you had read the fine print, we wouldn't be going to court over this, now would we? Be sure to read the fine print before you sign any contracts!
See also: fine, print

the fine print

The specific terms, conditions, restrictions, limitations, etc., of an agreement, contract, or other document, often printed in very small type and thus easy to go unnoticed. The terms of the loan look pretty good at face value, but be sure to read the fine print or you could find yourself in a heap of trouble down the line. If I had my way, I would make fine print illegal—it's so deceitful!
See also: fine, print
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • fine print
  • put (something) in print
  • put in print
  • DBEYR
  • get into print
  • print (something) in (something else)
  • print in
  • printing
  • print up
  • print out
References in classic literature
Requesting me then to exchange seats with him, that he might the better distinguish the fine print of the volume, he took my armchair at the window, and, opening the book, resumed his discourse very much in the same tone as before.
Poems
Bhaer sometimes used eye glasses, and Jo had tried them once, smiling to see how they magnified the fine print of her book.
Little Women
And when I returned new drifts would have formed, through which I floundered, where the busy northwest wind had been depositing the powdery snow round a sharp angle in the road, and not a rabbit's track, nor even the fine print, the small type, of a meadow mouse was to be seen.
Walden & on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
When the narrator asked the actor about the Surface's battery life in comparison to the MacBook's, the fine print read "Comparison of local video playback.
'Mac Book' Recommends Surface Laptop In New Microsoft Ad
In an apparent swipe at the US, Locsin added in his tweet: "Last time we did not read the fine print we fell into the worst debt trap of all: that laid by NY banks/WB/IMF."
Locsin admits being told by Pompeo to 'read the fine prints'; cites lesson from US bank debts
by Courtesy of Brandpoint Watch out for hidden costs in package deals and read the fine print carefully.
Travelling soon? Tips to stay sharp and avoid fraud
The app will analyze the fine print for consumers and will alert them of hidden costly details before signing on the dotted-line of financial agreements or contracts.
Local Chicago Technology App Founder Shares New Survey on Hidden Fees
Zarate said this legal issue will have to be addressed by reading the fine print of the approved pension hike.
Makabayan: Charter prohibits funding SSS pension hike from premium
"I think a section of the Congress leaders need to start reading the fine print, rather than accepting everything that their...
FM attacks Cong for blocking bills
Hadjiyiannis said in most cases, the fine print on the contracts allowed the banks to charge for the re-evaluation.
Co-ops refund 2014 customer charges
The huge bill furnishes the fine print for the bipartisan pact approved in December that set overall spending levels for the next couple of years.
U.S. House Approves Government-Wide $1.1 Trillion Budget
Caramadre helped McAuliffe place a bet on the dying man based on a loophole the estate planner had sniffed out in the fine print of insurance annuities.
Annuity scheme in Rhode Island figures in Virginia governor's race
However, if you read the fine print, you discover this only relates to visits Police Scotland deem to be "core demands".
Counter claim
Yes, the fine print of a tenancy contract may prohibit commercial activity.
Tutoring or babysitting in a flat is not commerce