get off lightly

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

get off lightly (third-person singular simple present gets off lightly, present participle getting off lightly, simple past got off lightly, past participle (UK) got off lightly or (US) gotten off lightly)

1. (idiomatic) To end up with a mild punishment, or without serious harm.

   My cousin got off lightly with a restraining order after he broke the boy’s leg.

   • 2012, Kelvin MacKenzie, Chas Newkey-Burden, The Twitter History of the World, London: John Blake, →ISBN, page 12:

     @Socrates
     Got off lightly, all things considered. They just want me to drink this hemlock stuff. BRB.
     8.11am, March 22, 399 BC

Translations

end up with a mild punishment

• French: s’en tirer à bon compte (fr)
• Norwegian: slippe billig unna
• Russian: легко отделаться (leχkó otdélat’sja)