Also: Weigh the Pros and Cons
Meaning of Idiom ‘Pros and Cons’
The pros and cons are the arguments for and against something; the advantages and disadvantages. 1Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
When we weigh the pros and cons we consider the arguments for and against something, such as a proposition, idea, etc.
Examples Of Use
“Before you jump into anything, you have to consider the pros and cons.”
“It was hard to move away from the town we had lived in for twenty years, but we decided that the pros outweighed the cons.”
Used since the late 1500’s, the idiom is taken from the Latin words pro, meaning for and contra, meaning against.
More Idioms Starting with P
More Latin Related Idioms
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- Get Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed, to
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- Cross the Rubicon
- Call a Spade a Spade, to
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