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  • Easy come, easy go
    Easy come, easy go
    Things easily acquired may be lost just as easily.
  • easy come, easy go
    easy come, easy go
    A phrase suggesting lack of concern over how things turn out, and particularly over money: “She never took things very seriously; ‘easy come, easy go’ was her motto.”

Easy come, easy go

1 Cultural  
  1. Things easily acquired may be lost just as easily.


easy come, easy go 2 Cultural  
  1. A phrase suggesting lack of concern over how things turn out, and particularly over money: “She never took things very seriously; ‘easy come, easy go’ was her motto.”


easy come, easy go Idioms  
  1. Readily won and readily lost, as in Easy come, easy go—that's how it is for Mark when he plays the stock market. This phrase states a truth known since ancient times and expressed in numerous proverbs with slightly different wording (lightly come, lightly go; quickly come, quickly go). The adverb easy was substituted in the early 1800s.


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This saying is often used after something has been lost.

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.

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"Easy come easy go," is a saying as applicable to knowledge as to wealth.

From Essays on Education and Kindred Subjects Everyman's Library by Spencer, Herbert

"Easy come, easy go in Benton," said the gambler, with a smile.

From The U. P. Trail by Grey, Zane

Easy come, easy go, is the rule of gamblers.

From Modern Economic Problems Economics Volume II by Fetter, Frank Albert

"Easy come, easy go," he commented philosophically and, lighting his pipe from one of the sticks of burning punk placed at intervals along the bar, he went out.

From Port O' Gold A History-Romance of the San Francisco Argonauts by Stellman, Louis J. (Louis John)

Easy come, easy go, that was the word.

From Desert Dust by Shepherd, J. Clinton

He sings famous lyrics including "easy come, easy go, little high, little low", and "any way the wind blows".

From BBC Sep. 20, 2022

“Bohemian Rhapsody” carried me from high school to adulthood, easy come, easy go.

From Washington Post Feb. 21, 2019

In other words, my suspicion would be that in the case of many viral news sites, clicks are easy come, easy go.

From Slate Dec. 10, 2014

In the digital world, easy come, easy go.

From The Guardian May 19, 2013

"I think she was mighty lucky to git it to pay the interest with, but she's probably like all the Randalls; it was easy come, easy go, with them."

From Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith

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