robbed Peter to pay Paul

A form of rob Peter to pay Paul — To use resources that legitimately belong to or are needed by one party in order to satisfy a legitimate need of another party, especially within the same organization or group; to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.

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Meanings

verb
  1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of rob Peter to pay Paul
Cite this entry
APA

robbed Peter to pay Paul. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/robbed%20Peter%20to%20pay%20Paul

MLA

“robbed Peter to pay Paul.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/robbed%20Peter%20to%20pay%20Paul. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “robbed Peter to pay Paul,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/robbed%20Peter%20to%20pay%20Paul.

Source: robbed Peter to pay Paul on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.