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pros and cons

phraseB2Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

The pros and cons are the points for and against a decision. Two columns on a sheet of paper.

The phrase is always plural and always in that order. It comes from Latin, where pro means for and contra means against, so the con here has nothing to do with a confidence trick. Weighing up the pros and cons is the standard way of describing a careful decision, and it is what a pros and cons list is for, which is one of the oldest pieces of practical advice there is.

Definitions of pros and cons

  1. 1phrasepros and consThe arguments for and against something.B2

    “We spent an evening going through the pros and cons.”

Where it comes from

Pros and cons are Latin fragments. Prō meant for or on behalf of, contrā meant against, and English kept the two halves of the argument without the sentences they belonged to.

  1. Latin

    prō — for, on behalf of

  2. English, today

    pros and cons

Built from

  • contrā · Latin — against

From Latin prō (“for, on behalf of”) and contrā (“against”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Idioms, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.

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