Word.ws English Dictionary

you can't get something for nothing

you can't get something for nothing is the alternative form of you don't get something for nothing.

Meaning of you don't get something for nothing

Proverb

you don't get something for nothing

  1. One cannot expect to receive some benefit if one does not pay for it in some way or does not face a counterbalancing hazard or harm.
    • There's half the fight won, first off."
      "Osterman bribed him, I suppose," observed Magnus.
      Annixter raised a shoulder vexatiously.
      "You've got to pay for what you get," he returned. "You don't get something for nothing, I guess."1901, Frank Norris, chapter 5, in The Octopus

Questions about you can't get something for nothing

What is you can't get something for nothing the alternative form of?
You can't get something for nothing is the alternative form of you don't get something for nothing.

Words near you can't get something for nothing in the dictionary

  1. you can't break sticks in a bundle
  2. you can't catch old birds with chaff
  3. you can't fight City Hall
  4. you can't fix stupid
  5. you can't get a quart into a pint pot
  6. you can't get something for nothing
  7. you can't go home again
  8. you can't judge a book by its cover
  9. you can't keep a good man down
  10. you can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em
  11. you can't live with them, you can't live without them

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: you can't get something for nothing (page history and authors); you don't get something for nothing (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:

Cite this entry: “you can't get something for nothing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/you_can%27t_get_something_for_nothing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.