Faustian bargain

Noun

Meaning

(idiomatic) An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits.
Synonym: deal with the devil
The university’s abandonment of its founding value of academic freedom in exchange for the corporation’s large financial contribution was a Faustian bargain.

(idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences.

Examples

After having spent decades pretending to be a moderate, Biden formed a Faustian bargain with the far Left and adopted many of its radical positions. Source: Internet

However, to a large extent progressives sacrificed the interests of blacks by way of a Faustian bargain that convinced southern legislators to pass New Deal legislation in exchange for not disrupting Jim Crow racial hierarchies. Source: Internet

Not one of these articles on the first page bothered to explore the appeal for except as some sort of Faustian bargain or as some kind of mass duping -- which seemed curious to me, at the very least. Source: Internet

Close letter words and terms