greatest good for the greatest number
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The hard bargain of public education has always been that it seeks to do the greatest good for the greatest number of kids, meaning it rarely offers perfection for individual children.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026
The FTX founder described himself as a "utilitarian" who thought the only rule that mattered was doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people, Ellison said.
From Reuters • Oct. 11, 2023
The greatest good for the greatest number invariably implies the existence of an expendable few.
From New York Times • Apr. 9, 2022
Neither does she have much use for utilitarians, with their simple calculus of adding up the greatest good for the greatest number.
From Nature • May 27, 2019
It was just a contest between two different ideas of what was right, what was the greatest good for the greatest number.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
