本末倒置

- have the order reversed; begin at the wrong end; confuse cause and effect; place the unimportant before the important; put first things last or last things first; put [set] the cart before the horse; put the incidental before the fundamental; put the nonessentials before the essentials; take the branch for the root; take the root for the branch; the first and last turned around; The sauce is better than the fish; turn sth. upside down