Word.ws English Dictionary

but hey

but hey interjection: used to show that the thing just referred to is not ideal or does not support the argument, but that the situation cannot be improved upon, or the speaker is unwilling to try.

Interjection

  1. Used to show that the thing just referred to is not ideal or does not support the argument, but that the situation cannot be improved upon, or the speaker is unwilling to try.
    • Streaming a movie prevents any but the most dedicated and well-equipped hacker from making a digital copy (pointing a camera at the screen still works, but hey).2003, S. Gulie, Quicktime for the Web, Morgan Kaufmann, page 136
    • I am pretty sure it's another computer glitch, but hey, it's not my fault and it's perfectly legal.2004, R. Broadhead, Dear Valued Customer, You Are A Loser, Andrews McMeel Publishing, page 89

Questions about but hey

What does but hey mean?
But hey means used to show that the thing just referred to is not ideal or does not support the argument, but that the situation cannot be improved upon, or the speaker is unwilling to try.
What part of speech is but hey?
But hey is an interjection.

Words near but hey in the dictionary

  1. but
  2. but and ben
  3. but for
  4. but for the grace of God
  5. but good
  6. but hey
  7. but if
  8. but me no buts
  9. but seriously folks
  10. but that
  11. but then

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: but hey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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