From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishin the scheme of thingsin the scheme of thingsSITUATIONin the way things generally happen, or are organized the unimportance of man in the whole scheme of things → scheme
Examples from the Corpus
in the scheme of things• But the teachers are in charge in the scheme of things proposed here.• People began to question the role of humans in the scheme of things and there was a resurgence of shallow religious soul-searching.• She wasn't important ... not in the scheme of things, whatever that meant.• She had a place in the scheme of things; she had significance, even importance.• Prejudice and bias have no place in the scheme of things.• What I'm doing is unimportant in the big scheme of things, but people find it interesting.• The reassurance that there is a place for all of us in the scheme of things should help a little. 