Word.ws English Dictionary

the bad penny always comes back

the bad penny always comes back is the alternative form of a bad penny always turns up.

Meaning of a bad penny always turns up

Proverb

a bad penny always turns up

  1. A person or thing which is unpleasant, dishonorable, or unwanted tends to appear (or reappear), especially at inopportune times.
    • It has been wisely said: “A bad penny always turns up again.” . . . Merwin K. Hart turns up again and again. And the Money-Changers of the Republican Party have knowingly sought to profit from Hart's lobby activities.1952, Ralph Morris Goldman, “The Money-Changers at the Ballot Box: A Study of Republican Election Buying,”, in The Future Catches Up, Vol. 2, published 2002, →ISBN, page 89
  2. An action or task that is carried out improperly eventually causes problems.

Questions about the bad penny always comes back

What is the bad penny always comes back the alternative form of?
The bad penny always comes back is the alternative form of a bad penny always turns up.

Words near the bad penny always comes back in the dictionary

  1. the arse is gone right out of 'er
  2. the arse is out of 'er
  3. the arse is right out of 'er
  4. the Ashes
  5. the ayes have it
  6. the bad penny always comes back
  7. the bad penny always turns up
  8. the bad place
  9. The Bahamas
  10. the ball is in someone's court
  11. The Basin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the bad penny always comes back (page history and authors); a bad penny always turns up (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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