Word.ws English Dictionary

for goodness's sake

for goodness's sake is the alternative form of for goodness' sake.

Meaning of for goodness' sake

Prepositional phrase

for goodness' sake!

  1. (euphemistic, idiomatic) Used to express frustration, exasperation, annoyance.
    • For goodness' sake, get off the computer! You've been on there for ages!
  2. (euphemistic, idiomatic) Used to express surprise or amazement.
    • For goodness' sake, I spelled that word correctly. I never knew I could do that.
  3. (euphemistic, idiomatic) Used for emphasis
    • They'll try all they can to deceive and to cheat, But for goodness sake don't say I told you.1888, Harrison and Morton, The Tippecanoe Campaign Songster

Questions about for goodness's sake

What is for goodness's sake the alternative form of?
For goodness's sake is the alternative form of for goodness' sake.

Words near for goodness's sake in the dictionary

  1. for good and all
  2. for good measure
  3. for good or ill
  4. for goodness' sake
  5. for goodness' sakes
  6. for goodness's sake
  7. for gosh sake
  8. for grins
  9. for heaven's sake
  10. for hellery
  11. for here

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for goodness's sake (page history and authors); for goodness' sake (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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