Word.ws English Dictionary

water over the dam

water over the dam noun: an event or set of events which has already happened and cannot be changed.

Noun

water over the dam (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) An event or set of events which has already happened and cannot be changed.
    • I have two other philosophies. One is: Do the best you can with what you have. The other is: Don't worry about water over the dam.1942 December 7, “One Year of War”, in Time
    • 'Anybody could have fallen for that note. Anyway, it's all water over the dam,' he added cheerfully.1953, Ian Fleming, “Vesper”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 154

Synonyms of water over the dam

Questions about water over the dam

What does water over the dam mean?
Water over the dam means an event or set of events which has already happened and cannot be changed.
What part of speech is water over the dam?
Water over the dam is a noun.

Words near water over the dam in the dictionary

  1. water organs
  2. Water Orton
  3. water ousel
  4. water ouzel
  5. water ouzels
  6. water over the dam
  7. water parade
  8. water parades
  9. water park
  10. water parks
  11. water parsnip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: water over the dam (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-water over the dam.ogg.

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