Connect the dots

“Connect the dots” is a metaphor that refers to a person’s ability to see the relationship between different events or pieces of information and to understand a bigger picture or underlying issue from these connections. When someone “connects the dots,” they are recognizing patterns or links between seemingly isolated incidents, leading to a deeper understanding of a situation.

• A detective investigating a complicated case might “connect the dots” between different pieces of evidence. By seeing the pattern or connection between the different pieces of information, she’s able to solve the case.
• An online business experiences a drop in sales. Everything looks fine. But someone connected the dots: the drop in sales coincided with a change in the checkout page.