get out of jail free card
11
5.6
- noun
- Informal
:
salvoconducto
- Winning the lottery seemed like a get out of jail free card for all her financial troubles.
- give a get out of jail free card
and they cannot use their difficult early childhood as a get out of jail free card forever.
- and they cannot use their difficult early childhood as a get out of jail free card forever.
- I had no exit strategy, no return ticket, no get out of jail free card.
- But but S plane is the biggest get out of jail free card you can ever play yourself.
- It's kind of looks like the get out of jail free card for shitty struggling businesses.
Examples
-
To all intents and purposes, in this context, it's a Get Out of Jail Free card.
Blog text (32) -
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn't give you the "get out of jail free card" to attack them.
Blog text (15) -
I think we may have used all our get out of jail free cards.
Blog text (15) -
and they cannot use their difficult early childhood as a get out of jail free card forever.
-
He called this his "get out of jail free card."
-
This has always felt to me like an attempt at a get-out-of-jail-free card to excuse any poor behavior.
Blog text (32) -
I understand your viewpoint, Chris, and yes, for some people who did the wrong thing, it is a "Get out of jail free" card.
Blog text (32) -
I wonder if that has something to do with Hollywood's apparent get out of jail free card.
Blog text (21) -
This is certainly the get out of jail free card that BP has been waiting for, but will the US government allow such an accusation against them to stand?
Blog text (15) -
It looks like former Sen. Ted Stevens might be getting the "get out of jail free" card, although it was money that nearly put him there in the first place.
Blog text (4)
Synonyms
416
6.7
Release from prison before the sentence ends if someone follows the rules
1
9.9
A permit that lets a prisoner live and work outside prison under rules
An official act that forgives someone for a crime and ends their legal punishments
Antonyms
- Informal
19
4.5
Accept and deal with unpleasant results or criticism for something you did
How Protected
- Formal
173
4.9
- Formal
252
4.2
- Informal
11
5.6
- Formal
1
8.1
- Formal
24
6.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
get + out + of + jail + free + card
The phrase is partly compositional: a learner who knows 'get out of jail' and 'card' can plausibly infer it refers to something that allows escape from punishment, and 'free' reinforces lack of cost or penalty. However, the item is culturally specific (Monopoly origin) and often used metaphorically to mean exemption in non-literal contexts, so fully understanding its pragmatic extension and conventional use requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Get out of jail free card comes from the board game Monopoly. In the game, a player with a Get Out of Jail Free card can leave jail without paying, so the phrase now means 'a chance to avoid punishment or bad consequences'.