help matters

idiom

: to make a situation better

—usually used in negative statements

It didn't exactly help matters when he accused her of lying!

Examples of help matters in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Costume designer Kaye Voyce doesn’t help matters with modern outfits that exaggerate personality characteristics at the expense of subtler individuality. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2024

The singer clearly was overworked, and her weight, which at one point was 275 pounds, did not help matters. —Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024

Undoubtedly, the government crackdown that began in late 2020 on large private companies, notably Alibaba, did not help matters. —Nicholas R. Lardy, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2024

Injuries to Seth Curry and Cody Martin didn’t help matters. —Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 28 Mar. 2024

Getting through the remainder of the season unscathed would help matters as well. —Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 26 Feb. 2024

Draw your own conclusions, but retirement planning often takes help, and the source of that help matters. —Steve Parrish, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024

But the program’s difficult Big 12 schedule won’t help matters and just might slow progress. —Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 30 Jan. 2024

The lukewarm reception to the album’s advance title track didn’t help matters. —Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 21 Feb. 2024