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French Expression
| Meaning | unharmed after a scary/dangerous situation | |
| Literally | more afraid than hurt | |
| Register | normal | |
| Pronunciation |  |
[ploos deu peuhr keu deu mal] |
| IPA | [plys də pœʁ kə də mal] | |
Usage notes: The French expression plus de peur que de mal is useful when describing a scary situation that didn’t do any real harm.
Par exemple…
| Plus de peur que de mal après l’intervention des pompiers. | More fear than hurt after the fire department’s intervention. | |
| En fin de compte, plus de peur que de mal. | In the end, no harm done. |
It’s commonly used with the verb avoir and the expression il y a.
Par exemple…
| En fin de compte, elle avait plus de peur que de mal. | In the end, she was shaken but unhurt. | |
| C’était une grosse tornade mais on a eu plus de peur que de mal. | It was a big (and scary) tornado but we weren’t hurt. | |
| Il faut prendre des risques ; la plupart du temps il y a plus de peur que de mal. | You have to take risks; most of the time things are scary but not harmful. |
Variation: Moins de mal que de peur
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