no harm, no foul
9
8.4
- idiom
- Informal
- The meeting went off track, but since we still reached an agreement, I said, "No harm, no foul here."
- say no harm, no foul
Examples
-
But hey, no harm, no foul.
Blog text (27) -
So, no harm, no foul.
Blog text (4) -
Enforce all of them, and there is no harm, no foul.
Blog text (23) -
Go on your merry way; no harm, no foul.
Blog text (15) -
I personally think that putting a word count limit on a query is as silly as putting a word count limit on a novel, and so it raised the question of whether I'd really want to work with her even if she responded (and she didn't, so no harm, no foul), but I still played by the rules set out.
Blog text (29) -
After the mix-up with the reservation, I told her, "No harm, no foul, we can still enjoy our dinner."
-
When he accidentally spilled my drink, I reassured him, "It's alright, no harm, no foul!"
Synonyms
789
1.0
Saying that something can be done easily or that you do not need to worry
84
6.6
A friendly reply that tells someone there is no problem
51
4.8
Not angry or upset after an argument
20
8.5
Not a serious problem you need to worry about
A friendly phrase to tell someone not to worry
Antonyms
How Serious
12
5.3
- Informal
9
8.4
- Informal
789
1.0
- Informal
20
8.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'no harm' = no damage and 'no foul' = no offense or rule-breaking, so together they convey 'no damage, no problem.' The coordinated negative structure and literal senses of the words (despite the idiomatic, rhyming form) make this straightforward for a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
No harm, no foul comes from sports and playground games. In those games a foul is a rule break and harm means someone is hurt, so if there is no harm players often don't call a foul. So we say it to mean 'no reason to be upset'.