Word.ws English Dictionary

more than one bargained for

more than one bargained for noun: an unexpected and (usually) unwanted result of a decision or action.

Noun

more than one bargained for (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) An unexpected and (usually) unwanted result of a decision or action.
    • This was more than he had bargained for, and he squeaked shrilly with the pain.1874, Ambrose Bierce, “Fables of Zambri, the Parsee”, in Cobwebs From an Empty Skull
    • The sound of guns grew louder. . . . [W]hat if the Germans were to break through and sweep over all calculations? This was a little more than Jimmie Higgins had bargained for when he entered the recruiting-office in Leesville, U.S.A.!1919, Upton Sinclair, chapter 22, in Jimmie Higgins

Questions about more than one bargained for

What does more than one bargained for mean?
More than one bargained for means an unexpected and (usually) unwanted result of a decision or action.
What part of speech is more than one bargained for?
More than one bargained for is a noun.

Words near more than one bargained for in the dictionary

  1. more tea, vicar
  2. more than eleven
  3. more than friends
  4. more than likely
  5. more than meets the eye
  6. more than one bargained for
  7. more than one can poke a stick at
  8. more than one can shake a stick at
  9. more than one cares to mention
  10. more than someone has had cooked dinners
  11. more than someone has had hot dinners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: more than one bargained for (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-more than one bargained for.ogg.

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