See damned if one does and damned if one doesn't in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1836, Lorenzo Dow, Reflections on the Love of God (1836), ch. 6, p. 30 (on the doctrine of Particular Election)",
"text": "You can and you can't—You shall and you shan't—You will and you won't—And you will be damned if you do—And you will be damned if you don't."
},
{
"text": "If John leaves for New York to follow his career, his father will disinherit him. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "Damned if I do and damned if I don't.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "Damned if you do and damned if you don't.",
"type": "example"
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],
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"Of a situation where either choice results in a negative outcome."
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"(informal, idiomatic) Of a situation where either choice results in a negative outcome."
],
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"alt": "BrE",
"word": "can't do right for doing wrong"
},
{
"word": "Ginsberg's theorem"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "in a dilemma"
},
{
"word": "damned if one does, and damned if one doesn't"
},
{
"word": "one's damned if one does and one's damned if one doesn't"
},
{
"word": "one's damned if one does, and one's damned if one doesn't"
}
],
"tags": [
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"translations": [
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "tiel aĉe, kaj tiel malbone"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "pulassa joka tapauksessa"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"tags": [
"vulgar"
],
"word": "kusessa joka tapauksessa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "c’est un choix cornélien"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "quoi que je fasse"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "ce n’est jamais bon"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "la peste ou le choléra"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "on est perdant dans tous les cas"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "literally “which finger of mine should I bite (off/into)”",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "melyik ujjamat harapjam (meg/le)"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "melyik ujjamba harapjak (bele)"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "literally “if you have a cap on, that’s the problem; if you don’t, then that is”",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "ha van rajtad sapka, az a baj, ha nincs, akkor az"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "egyik kutya, másik eb"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "i tak źle, i tak niedobrze"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "kudá ni kinʹ, vsjúdu klin",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "куда́ ни кинь, всю́ду клин"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "palos porque bogas, palos porque no bogas"
},
{
"code": "tl",
"lang": "Tagalog",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "sala sa init, sala sa lamig"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "aşağı tükürsen sakal, yukarı tükürsen bıyık"
}
]
}
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"alt": "BrE",
"word": "can't do right for doing wrong"
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"word": "Ginsberg's theorem"
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"ref": "1836, Lorenzo Dow, Reflections on the Love of God (1836), ch. 6, p. 30 (on the doctrine of Particular Election)",
"text": "You can and you can't—You shall and you shan't—You will and you won't—And you will be damned if you do—And you will be damned if you don't."
},
{
"text": "If John leaves for New York to follow his career, his father will disinherit him. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "Damned if I do and damned if I don't.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "Damned if you do and damned if you don't.",
"type": "example"
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],
"glosses": [
"Of a situation where either choice results in a negative outcome."
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"(informal, idiomatic) Of a situation where either choice results in a negative outcome."
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"word": "in a dilemma"
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"word": "damned if one does, and damned if one doesn't"
},
{
"word": "one's damned if one does and one's damned if one doesn't"
},
{
"word": "one's damned if one does, and one's damned if one doesn't"
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],
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{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "tiel aĉe, kaj tiel malbone"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "pulassa joka tapauksessa"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"tags": [
"vulgar"
],
"word": "kusessa joka tapauksessa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "c’est un choix cornélien"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "quoi que je fasse"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "ce n’est jamais bon"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "la peste ou le choléra"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "on est perdant dans tous les cas"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "literally “which finger of mine should I bite (off/into)”",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "melyik ujjamat harapjam (meg/le)"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "melyik ujjamba harapjak (bele)"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"english": "literally “if you have a cap on, that’s the problem; if you don’t, then that is”",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "ha van rajtad sapka, az a baj, ha nincs, akkor az"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "egyik kutya, másik eb"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "i tak źle, i tak niedobrze"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "kudá ni kinʹ, vsjúdu klin",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "куда́ ни кинь, всю́ду клин"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "palos porque bogas, palos porque no bogas"
},
{
"code": "tl",
"lang": "Tagalog",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "sala sa init, sala sa lamig"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "dilemma with bad outcomes",
"word": "aşağı tükürsen sakal, yukarı tükürsen bıyık"
}
],
"word": "damned if one does and damned if one doesn't"
}
Download raw JSONL data for damned if one does and damned if one doesn't meaning in English (4.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (eaedd02 and 8fbd9e8). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.