free lunch
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Something given or obtained without any cost or effort
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Một thứ gì đó được cho hoặc có được mà không tốn chi phí hoặc công sức
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a lunch that is free
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
There's no such thing as a free lunch
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 “free lunch” mean?
Something given or obtained without any cost or effort Literally: a lunch that is free
Is “free lunch” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.