there is no free lunch
idiom
—used to say that it is not possible to get something that is desired or valuable without having to pay for it in some way
Examples of there is no free lunch in a Sentence
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For a female, there is no free lunch because maternal investment is always high in birds.
—
Nathan H. Lents, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Apr. 2025
But there is no free lunch in national security politics, and the political forces that help foreign policymaking also push it in a hawkish direction.
—Elizabeth N. Saunders, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
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Nathan H. Lents, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Apr. 2025
But there is no free lunch in national security politics, and the political forces that help foreign policymaking also push it in a hawkish direction.
—Elizabeth N. Saunders, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“There is no free lunch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/there%20is%20no%20free%20lunch. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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