swings and roundabouts
English
Noun
- (UK, Ireland) Gains and losses that offset each other.
- If, in order to save money, you never buy a parking ticket, you are more likely to get fined, so it's all swings and roundabouts really.
- Whether we pick up Mary first and then John or John first and then Mary is a matter of swings and roundabouts.
Related terms
- what you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts
- what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts