no harm, no foul

no harm, no foul
Encapsulation of the idea that although technically a breach of some code or law may have occurred there is no need for punishment, apology or retribution if no actual damage occurred.

He parked in my space but as I was away at the time: no harm, no foul.

See Also: no cross, no crown, no effort, no result, no pain, no gain

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  • No harm, no foul — is an expression derived from basketball. It expresses the idea that if an infraction upon the rules did not have any effect on the game, then it should not be counted as a foul. In slang, it means that if someone has done something theoretically …   Wikipedia

  • no harm, no foul — there is no problem if no serious damage was done. In his excitement, he deleted all the files, but they were restored later from a backup copy no harm, no foul. Etymology: from the use of this phrase in basketball (= a sport) to say that if an… …   New idioms dictionary

  • no harm, no foul — There s no problem when no harm or damage is done, such as the time my sister in law stole the name we d chosen for a boy and we both ended up having girls …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • harm — [n] injury, evil abuse, banefulness, damage, deleteriousness, detriment, disservice, foul play*, hurt, ill, immorality, impairment, infliction, iniquity, loss, marring, mischance, mischief, misfortune, misuse, noxiousness, outrage, perniciousness …   New thesaurus

  • foul up — I (Roget s IV) v. Syn. make a mess of, bungle, spoil, entangle; see botch , confuse . II (Roget s Thesaurus II) I verb To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess: ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, fumble, gum up, mess up,… …   English dictionary for students

  • harm — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. deterioration, evil, dishonor, mischief, injury. v. damage, injure; desecrate, abuse, break. See malevolence, wrong. II (Roget s IV) n. 1. [Injury] Syn. hurt, infliction, impairment; see injury 1 . 2 …   English dictionary for students

  • harm — n 1. harmfulness, injury, perniciousness, ill, woe, trauma, hurt, pain, torment, suffering, adversity; abuse, detriment, damage, defacement, destruction, waste, ruin, bane, havoc, loss, desolation; defilement, pollution, poisoning, contamination …   A Note on the Style of the synonym finder

  • fall foul of someone — fall foul of (someone) to upset someone, so that they do not like you and try to harm you. Officials who fall foul of the mayor find themselves exiled to the most boring departments …   New idioms dictionary

  • fall foul of — (someone) to upset someone, so that they do not like you and try to harm you. Officials who fall foul of the mayor find themselves exiled to the most boring departments …   New idioms dictionary

  • Chick Hearn — Francis Dayle Chick Hearn (November 27, 1916 – August 5, 2002) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily as the long time play by play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, the legendary Hearn is… …   Wikipedia

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