Word.ws English Dictionary

there is no free lunch

there is no free lunch is the alternative form of there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Meaning of there's no such thing as a free lunch

Phrase

there's no such thing as a free lunch

  1. Nothing is free; even things that appear free often have to be paid for in the end.
    Synonyms:
    TANSTAAFL, TINSTAAFL

Questions about there is no free lunch

What is there is no free lunch the alternative form of?
There is no free lunch is the alternative form of there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Words near there is no free lunch in the dictionary

  1. there is a place and time for everything
  2. there is a time and a place for everything
  3. there is a time and place for everything
  4. there is an exception to every rule
  5. there is no "there" there
  6. there is no free lunch
  7. there is no honor among thieves
  8. there is no honour among thieves
  9. there is no Planet B
  10. there is no replacement for displacement
  11. there is no spoon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: there is no free lunch (page history and authors); there's no such thing as a free lunch (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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Cite this entry: “there is no free lunch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/there_is_no_free_lunch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.