It is not worth investing additional time on perfecting this thing.

Etymology:

  • The phrase was created in World War II with the usage meaning that a product met the highest standards of quality and would not be accepted by Uncle Sam if it did not. The phrase was used as early as 1906 in Canada with the usage being neither disparaging nor better than non-government work.. It was used disparagingly as early as 1960.
39 Views

Submitted on September 01, 2009

Translation

Find a translation for the close enough for government work phrase in other languages:

Suficientemente cerca para el trabajo del gobierno

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to close enough for government work

How to pronounce this phrase?

Discuss this close enough for government work phrase with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this close enough for government work definition to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "close enough for government work." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/close-enough-for-government-work_2938>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest human-edited phrases collection on the web!

    Quiz

    Are you a phrases master?

    »
    I think you're missing the wood for the ________.
    A fire
    B trees
    C pyre
    D tyre