throw good money after bad
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Incur further loss in a hopeless attempt to recoup a previous loss.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
There is after all no point in throwing good money after bad, and the need to maintain harmonious industrial relations is likely to be considered of greater importance than achieving a barren judgment.
If not, you could be simply throwing good money after bad.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “throw good money after bad” mean?
Incur further loss in a hopeless attempt to recoup a previous loss.
Is “throw good money after bad” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.