"may as well" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "may as well",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "might as well",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "might as well",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "may as well (third-person singular simple present may as well, no present participle, simple past might as well, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              90,
              101
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1945, Roger S. Vreeland, The Mad Dancers:",
          "text": "They continued their inspection in silence, but at last the Doctor shrugged and said they may as well go back.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              93
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1965, Donovan, Catch the Wind:",
          "text": "For me to love you now\nWould be the sweetest thing\n'Twould make me sing\nAh, but I may as well try and catch the wind",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              174,
              185
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 December 11, Michael Reeves, 00:40 from the start, in Head Hunting Drone Swarm, via YouTube:",
          "text": "So my plan is to build an AI-driven swarm of drones, each of which tries to fly itself into a human's head. Now, why? Because the mechanical uprising has to start somewhere, may as well be me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express reluctance, to express that if one hypothetical or possible action happened, it would not make any notable difference."
      ],
      "id": "en-may_as_well-en-verb-D4tT8K0z",
      "links": [
        [
          "reluctance",
          "reluctance#English"
        ],
        [
          "hypothetical",
          "hypothetical#English"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible#English"
        ],
        [
          "notable",
          "notable#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Used to express reluctance, to express that if one hypothetical or possible action happened, it would not make any notable difference."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "might as well"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-may as well.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/79/En-au-may_as_well.ogg/En-au-may_as_well.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/En-au-may_as_well.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "may as well"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "may as well",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "might as well",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "might as well",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "may as well (third-person singular simple present may as well, no present participle, simple past might as well, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              90,
              101
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1945, Roger S. Vreeland, The Mad Dancers:",
          "text": "They continued their inspection in silence, but at last the Doctor shrugged and said they may as well go back.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              93
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1965, Donovan, Catch the Wind:",
          "text": "For me to love you now\nWould be the sweetest thing\n'Twould make me sing\nAh, but I may as well try and catch the wind",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              174,
              185
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018 December 11, Michael Reeves, 00:40 from the start, in Head Hunting Drone Swarm, via YouTube:",
          "text": "So my plan is to build an AI-driven swarm of drones, each of which tries to fly itself into a human's head. Now, why? Because the mechanical uprising has to start somewhere, may as well be me.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used to express reluctance, to express that if one hypothetical or possible action happened, it would not make any notable difference."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reluctance",
          "reluctance#English"
        ],
        [
          "hypothetical",
          "hypothetical#English"
        ],
        [
          "possible",
          "possible#English"
        ],
        [
          "notable",
          "notable#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Used to express reluctance, to express that if one hypothetical or possible action happened, it would not make any notable difference."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-may as well.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/79/En-au-may_as_well.ogg/En-au-may_as_well.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/En-au-may_as_well.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "might as well"
    }
  ],
  "word": "may as well"
}