what's done is done
what's done is done proverb: events that have already taken place cannot be changed and actions that have already been committed cannot be undone, so it is best not to dwell on them.
Proverb
what's done is done
- Events that have already taken place cannot be changed and actions that have already been committed cannot be undone, so it is best not to dwell on them.
- As I mentioned in a round-table conversation with my colleagues on Saturday, I’m worried that all too many people will say: Well, in a perfect world Trump should have gone to Congress, but what’s done is done. That is exactly the wrong way to approach this war.2026 March 1, David French, “War and Peace Cannot Be Left to One Man — Especially Not This Man”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2026
what's done is done meaning in Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic and Persian
what's done is done in Hindi
- events that have already taken place cannot be changed
- जो होगया सों होगया jo hogyā sõ hogyā
what's done is done in Tagalog
- events that have already taken place cannot be changed
- nasa huli ang pagsisisi
what's done is done in Arabic
- events that have already taken place cannot be changed
- مَا حَدَثَ قَد حَدَثَ mā ḥadaṯa qad ḥadaṯa, مَا فَاتَ قَدْ مَاتْ mā fāta qad māt
what's done is done in Persian
- events that have already taken place cannot be changed
- کاری است که شده kâri ast ke šode
Forms of what's done is done
| alternative form | what's done cannot be undone |
|---|
Origin of what's done is done
From a line of dialogue spoken by the character Lady Macbeth in Act III Scene II of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.
Questions about what's done is done
- What does what's done is done mean?
- What's done is done means events that have already taken place cannot be changed and actions that have already been committed cannot be undone, so it is best not to dwell on them.
- What is what's done is done in Hindi?
- What's done is done in Hindi is जो होगया सों होगया (jo hogyā sõ hogyā). See What's done is done meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is what's done is done?
- What's done is done is a proverb.
Words near what's done is done in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: what's done is done (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-what's done is done.wav.
Cite this entry: “what's done is done.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/what%27s_done_is_done. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.