Dictionary

do more harm than good en · VERB

Meanings

1. To make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better.
   • In other words, they will tend to vote for a bill if they think that the public will perceive it as doing more good than harm, even though it might actually do more harm than good. The public can misperceive the real effects of a bill 2008, David Schoenbrod, Power Without Responsibility: How Congress Abuses the People through Delegation:
   • What it generalizes to is the proposition that where following a law does more harm than good, it should be broken. 2012, Leo Katz, Bad Acts and Guilty Minds: Conundrums of the Criminal Law:
   • Finally, it appears that Pius was asked by some persecuted Jews to avoid an explicit condemnation because it would do more harm than good 2002, José M. Sánchez, Pius XII and the Holocaust: Understanding the Controversy, page 117:

Forms

Translations (6)

pl wyrządzać więcej szkody niż pożytku (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better) · sv stjälpa mer än hjälpa (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better) · pl wyrządzić więcej szkody niż pożytku (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better) · hu többet árt, mint használ (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better) · fi aiheuttaa enemmän vahinkoa kuin hyvää (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better) · sv göra mer skada än nytta (to make a situation worse, usually while trying to make it better)