last straw
- 1A small extra problem that, added to an already heavy burden, finally pushes a person or situation past the breaking point.
Like piling weight onto an overloaded shelf until one light object finally brings the whole thing down.
After months of broken promises, his canceled visit was the last straw.
The rent increase proved the last straw, and the family decided to move.
Note
The phrase is a clipped proverb, short for the straw that broke the camel's back, and the missing camel is still understood. It nearly always takes the, typically in the exclamation that's the last straw! or after was, as in Coronavirus was the last straw for an airline already losing money. The trigger need not be trivial in itself. What makes it the last straw is the load already carried.
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Origin
A shortened form of the expression "the straw that broke the camel's back."