robbing 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. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of rob Peter to pay Paul
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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