for better or worse

for better or worse

English

Alternative forms

• for better, for worse; for better or for worse

Etymology

A traditional Christian marriage vow.

Prepositional phrase

for better or worse

1. No matter what the future may hold (no matter whether it is good or bad).

   For better or worse, he’s the president.

   • 2022 August 24, Kevin Roose, “We Need to Talk About How Good A.I. Is Getting”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     Fewer experts are confidently predicting that we have years or even decades to prepare for a wave of world-changing A.I.; many now believe that major changes are right around the corner, for better or worse.

Translations

No matter what the future may hold

Chinese: Mandarin: 無論如何／无论如何 (zh) (wúlùnrúhé), 不論好壞／不论好坏 (bùlùnhǎohuài) Dutch: in lief en leed, in voor- en tegenspoed Finnish: syteen tai saveen, niin tai näin (fi), oli miten oli, kävi miten kävi French: pour le meilleur et pour le pire (fr), pour le meilleur comme pour le pire German: auf Gedeih und Verderb (de) Greek: καλώς ή κακώς (kalós í kakós) Hungarian: sajnos vagy nem sajnos Italian: nel bene e nel male, nella buona e nella cattiva sorte Japanese: 善かれ悪しかれ (よかれあしかれ, yokare ashikare) Polish: na dobre i na złe (pl) Russian: к лу́чшему и́ли ху́дшему (k lúčšemu íli xúdšemu), (what the hell) была́ не была́ (ru) (bylá ne bylá), как бы то ни́ было (ru) (kak by to ní bylo) Spanish: a las duras y a las maduras (colloquial), en las buenas y en las malas (colloquial), en la fortuna y en la adversidad (formal, religious)

See also

• in weal and woe
• sooner or later