Word.ws English Dictionary

can't do right for doing wrong

can't do right for doing wrong phrase: be in a situation where any course of action leads to a negative outcome.

Phrase

can't do right for doing wrong

  1. (UK) Be in a situation where any course of action leads to a negative outcome.
    • “Hold your confounded tongue!” he bawled. “You can't do right for doing wrong, can you? No, by G-d! […]1971, George MacDonald Fraser, Flash for Freedom!, page 59
    • Insolvency doesn't necessarily happen when a company is doing poorly; quite the contrary, it can happen just as easily when a company is too successful (you see, sometimes you can't do right for doing wrong!).2013, Steve Collings, Michael Taillard, Corporate Finance for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, page 201

Questions about can't do right for doing wrong

What does can't do right for doing wrong mean?
Can't do right for doing wrong means be in a situation where any course of action leads to a negative outcome.
What part of speech is can't do right for doing wrong?
Can't do right for doing wrong is a phrase.

Words near can't do right for doing wrong in the dictionary

  1. can't be fagged
  2. can't be fucked
  3. can't but
  4. can't carry a tune in a bucket
  5. can't complain
  6. can't do right for doing wrong
  7. can't even
  8. can't get enough
  9. can't help
  10. can't help but
  11. can't lie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: can't do right for doing wrong (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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