anything goes

Idioms  

1. Everything is permitted, as in You're wearing sneakers to the office?—Why not? Anything goes these days. This idiom began life as everything goes, which appeared in George Meredith's novel The Egoist (1879). In America anything was the preferred word, which gained further currency with Cole Porter's use of the term as the title of his 1934 song and musical comedy, Anything Goes!

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anything goes

And maybe after that they warned us because they were now really, really nervous and needed it to be clear they’d asked for help, and if anything goes wrong it’s not their fault!

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

And within the context of flavour experimentation, pretty much anything goes.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

De Becker said he remains a guarantor of the business, meaning he’s on the hook if anything goes wrong.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

The era of anything goes in private-credit underwriting is coming to an end.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Understanding that nature is not normative does not mean that anything goes.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann