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Glite Dictionary
to do someone any favors

to do someone any favors

48 5.1
Give someone help that does more harm than good
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : hacer un favor a alguien
  • If you think lying will do you any favors, you're mistaken.
  • do me any favors, okay
  • think we did him any favors
  • going to do you any favors

Examples

  • Hey, you're not doing me any favors.

    Intensive Care (2020)

  • You are doing it now, and it is not doing you any favors.

    Blog text (15)

  • You are not doing these kids any favors.

    Wonder (2017)

  • At the same time, there are a few tropes that do none of us any favors.

    Blog text (18)

  • Trust me when I tell you, you are not doing anyone any favors by selling this false hope.

    Blog text (24)

  • I am not a major consumer, and therefore, I don't do this economy any favors.

    Blog text (32)

  • But to be fair, shaking up House leadership didn't really do the GOP any favors.

    Blog text (2)

  • I don't think you're doing me any favors by letting me off easy.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • You're not doing him any favors if you praise him in a dishonest way.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Bottling up your emotions won't do you any favors in the long run.

Synonyms

to give a hand
vsto do someone any favors
707 1.8

To help someone with something or to clap to show appreciation

is more formal and can be less useful in effect
to assist
vsto do someone any favors
605 1.0

To help someone by making a task easier

is broader and may not provide clear practical benefit
to help someone with
vsto do someone any favors
499 1.0

To do part of a task for someone who has trouble doing it

is more general and can be less genuinely useful
to do good
vsto do someone any favors
82 2.4

To help someone by making them healthier or happier

is general help that may not result in a real positive effect
to oblige
vsto do someone any favors
81 4.1

To do a favor for someone when they ask

is more voluntary and may lack clear benefit
to serve well
vsto do someone any favors
3 3.5

Be useful to someone when they need it

often implies help that might not actually be advantageous

Antonyms

to harm
738 1.0

To cause a bad effect on people or things

How Helpful

to benefit
676 2.3
to assist
605 1.0
to do someone any favors
  • Informal
48 5.1
to give a hand
707 1.8

Surface Forms

do someone any favors infinitive
did someone any favors past
done someone any favors past participle
doing someone any favors present participle
does someone any favors third person singular

Morphology

do + someone + any + favor

The meaning 'to help or benefit someone' is directly and compositionally derived from 'do' (perform), 'someone' (a person), 'any' (non-specific), and 'favors' (kind actions), so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer that the phrase means performing helpful acts for a person. Although there is a pragmatic nuance in contexts like 'won't do him any favors' (meaning an action will not help and might harm), this is an extension of the literal sense rather than an unpredictable idiom, and the construction is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Do someone any favors comes from a simple picture: you do a small helpful act, a favor, for another person, like lending a hand or passing a tool. So, when we say something 'won't do someone any favors' we mean it will 'not help' them and may even make things worse.