Skip to main content

Can’t win for losing

When you voluntarily lose (to make someone feel better, to end an argument), and then the situation gets even worse. So, what you thought you would gain by losing on purpose is lost anyway.

It’s a colloquial equivalent to paving the road to hell with good intentions.

(A lot of people writing their definitions for this are trying to make logic out of the phrasing but weren’t around when this phrase was more popular, leading to incorrect definitions.)
I let my spouse win the argument to calm down the situation, and now I’m getting criticized for not sticking up for myself. I can’t win for losing!
by Jemie Weino October 8, 2022
mugGet the Can’t win for losing mug.

how to win the game

The only way to win the game is if a person named Ethan, tells you that you have won the game.
Me: *thinking how to win the game*
Ethan: You've just won the game.
Me: AYOO, thanks bro!
by Christb123 December 17, 2021
mugGet the how to win the game mug.

Win

Hey guys, did you win against the Yugoslav Royal Army?
Yeah. We didn't score a single kill, but we won. We got raped from both sides
by joke0707080910 December 30, 2021
mugGet the Win mug.

Winning the pooh

He was winning the pooh when he got his dick in the booty
by Prrsuasian April 16, 2022
mugGet the Winning the pooh mug.

Winning

Winning is nice and all, but you gotta be pretty desperate for it if you're getting shots in your neck. Hopefully if someone told you that shooting heroin in your neck would get you a ring, you wouldn't be desperate enough to start doing it, though all of a sudden the same guys getting shots in their neck who don't judge would start calling other guys junkies who got the heroin shots, which is hypocrisy.
The guy shot up five times in the neck to get a title, he must think if you're not winning that way, you're not trying.
by Solid Mantis November 3, 2019
mugGet the Winning mug.

Winning

You wouldn't hear about as many female athletes shooting up in the neck in a postseason game. Females live longer because they're chicken shot about taking unnecessary risks with their bodies like that, even if they're chicken shit, they're still alive at 70 something in greater numbers than males are.
Females are no less desperate than males to win at something, they're just more desperate to live to win another day at something, which is why they usually live longer lifespans which is like winning to them.
by Solid Mantis November 3, 2019
mugGet the Winning mug.

Winning

There is no winning, there is only not losing what you lost the last time.
There is no winning.
by Solid Mantis January 2, 2021
mugGet the Winning mug.

Share this definition

Sign in to vote

We'll email you a link to sign in instantly.

Or

Check your email

We sent a link to

Open your email