English · Idiom Candidate

damned if one does and damned if one doesn't

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Faced with two options, both of which have negative consequences

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đối mặt với hai lựa chọn, cả hai đều có hậu quả tiêu cực

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: condemned whether one acts or not

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

If I tell the truth, I'll get in trouble, and if I lie, my reputation will suffer, so I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “damned if one does and damned if one doesn't” mean?

Faced with two options, both of which have negative consequences Literally: condemned whether one acts or not

Is “damned if one does and damned if one doesn't” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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