serve two masters

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To work for or loyalty to two parties with conflicting interests

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

làm việc hoặc trung thành với hai bên có lợi ích xung đột

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to be an employee or servant of two different masters
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

You can't serve two masters when your business partner and investor have different goals

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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “serve two masters” mean?

To work for or loyalty to two parties with conflicting interests Literally: to be an employee or servant of two different masters

Is “serve two masters” formal or informal?

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