to may as well
39
4.1
- phrasal verb
:
mejor
- Remember, they are trying to build a relationship with you; you may as well build one, too.
For instance, we may as well dine where digestion is best.
- For instance, we may as well dine where digestion is best.
- Greenwich Village may as well have been a different planet.
- And so we may as well hit on them.
- So if you can't beat them, you may as well leave them.
- Got a little authored brow gel in here as well, so may as well just brush this through.
- Then you may as well open the crocodile's mouth and climb on in.
- If you show up nice, you're viewed with suspicion, so you may as well choose a path forward that feels right and good to you.
- So I, I, I really don't subscribe to the idea that we should avoid vaccination or we, we may as well just go back to the Middle Ages.
Examples
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Well, I may as well give them what they want.
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We know this isn't what you're used to, she told him, but you may as well learn now as later.
Fiction book (1994) -
And well, I guess we may as well give that a try.
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Well, I would expect this question coming from the press, but since you asked, I may as well answer your question.
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If we're gonna do that, we may as well stay here, you know?
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You may as well own up.
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And my logic is you may as well go and get free stuff if you can.
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"I'm freezing; we may as well go inside." No one moved.
Fiction book (2002) -
She's not coming back to the school, so you may as well get away from here.
Fiction book (1994) -
If we're going to be late, we may as well stop for coffee on the way.
Synonyms
896
2.4
Say yes to an idea or suggestion because there is no good reason not to
How Advisable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The construction combines the modal 'may' (possibility/permission) with 'as well' ('also/likewise'), so learners can guess an optional or permissive sense, but the specific pragmatic meaning — that doing X is sensible because there is no better alternative — is an idiomatic, discourse-level inference not directly derivable from the parts. This pragmatic nuance is common in many languages but requires familiarity with the fixed phrase, making the expression partially predictable but not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
May as well comes from the simple idea that you may choose something because it is as well, or just as good as the others. That's why may as well means to do something because there is 'no better choice'.