Etymology

might makes right

Today it means: What is right or wrong is determined by power and strength; power justifies itself. Full definition →

Middle English might is right
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frommight is right
  2. English todaymight makes right

Inherited from Middle English might is right, first attested in the 14th century. The concept is expressed by various classical authors; a similar argument is notably attributed to Thrasymachus by Plato in the Republic 340a (in Paul Shorey’s translation, “the advantage of the stronger is just”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.