do the right thing

English

Verb

do the right thing (third-person singular simple present does the right thing, present participle doing the right thing, simple past did the right thing, past participle done the right thing)

1. (set phrase) To do what is ethical or just.

   There was a lot of money in the wallet I found, but I did the right thing and handed it in.

   • 2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Network News: TPE MD: consider impact of strikes on passengers”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 11:

     In the dispute with the RMT about scanning tickets, Jackson said it was the right thing to do to pay conductors something to scan tickets. Northern pays two pence per scan, Jackson noted, adding that ticket scanning helps to cut fraud and increase staff visibility.

Translations

act ethically

• Basque: egin zuzena izan
• Finnish: toimia oikein
• French: faire la bonne chose, faire ce qu’il faut, faire ce qu’il fallait, bien faire (fr)
• Galician: facer o correcto
• Italian: fare la cosa giusta
• Polish: postępować słusznie impf, postąpić słusznie pf, postępować właściwie impf, postąpić właściwie pf
• Portuguese: fazer a coisa certa
• Spanish: hacer lo correcto

See also

• do the needful
• high road