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)
- (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