do any good

Idioms

Improve a situation or effect a favorable result, as in Tell me if this new medicine does any good. [Early 1700s] A negative version, do no good, is slightly older (late 1600s); for example, All his explanations will do no good.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

do any good

It doesn’t do any good to fall in love with someplace if you can’t actually live there full time.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 29, 2025

"All this spending can hardly do any good to the availability of food," he added.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2024

“As important as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them,” Sanders wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024

I told you that didn’t do any good to vote, didn’t I?’”

From Washington Times ● Aug. 20, 2023

“It doesn’t do any good to fight. The point is, what was the She Elephant doing here?”

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023