the cure is worse than the disease
- idiom
- Informal
:
la cura es peor que la enfermedad
- Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease when new policies create more issues.
Therefore, the cure is worse than the disease.
- Therefore, the cure is worse than the disease.
Examples
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Many believe that introducing such strict controls will prove that the cure is worse than the disease.
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In many cases, the cure is worse than the disease and leads to greater suffering.
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After trying to fix the car myself, I realized the cure is worse than the disease when it ended up costing more.
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Sometimes, imposing new regulations just shows the cure is worse than the disease.
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After trying to fix the car myself, I realized the cure is worse than the disease when it ended up costing more.
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Some experts warning about the side effects argue that the cure is worse than the disease in many treatments.
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The company's attempt to improve customer satisfaction resulted in confusion; the cure is worse than the disease.
Synonyms
61
6.8
Doing something that makes the problem worse instead of better
2
8.3
Causing more harm than the problem it is meant to fix
How Harmful
- Informal
- Specialized
259
3.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
the + cure + be + worse + than + the + disease
The proverb's meaning is directly built from its parts: 'cure' vs 'disease' linked by the comparative structure 'worse than', so a learner who knows these words and basic comparative grammar can infer that the remedy causes more harm than the illness. This comparative, evaluative logic is common across languages and cultures, making the phrase immediately comprehensible rather than idiomatically opaque.
Etymology
The cure is worse than the disease comes from medicine: imagine a treatment that makes a patient feel worse than the sickness did. That's why people use it to say a solution is 'worse than the original problem'.