put the genie back in the bottle

English

Verb

put the genie back in the bottle (third-person singular simple present puts the genie back in the bottle, present participle putting the genie back in the bottle, simple past and past participle put the genie back in the bottle)

  1. (idiomatic, chiefly in the negative) To revert a situation; to put things back as they were before something (usually an unwelcome thing) became a reality.
    People are very worried about artificial intelligence, but there's no way now to put the genie back in the bottle.

In more recent years, similar expressions have been adopted with varying success online as attitudes towards orthodox idioms evolve. Some more recent sayings include:

  1. You can't unsend a like.
  2. You can't unlift a lash.
  3. You can't is what was.

Synonyms

See also

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