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cui bono. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cui bono, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cui bono in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Cicero’s Pro Sexto Roscio Amerino, 84 & 86: Latin cui bonō fuisset (“to whom it would have benefited”), a so-called double dative construction.
Noun
cui bono (uncountable)
- The principle that the ultimate initiator of an action is likely the person who stands to gain from the action.
1900, Evelyn Shuckburgh, Letters to Atticus, translation of original by Marcus Tullius Cicero:If the principle of cui bono is applied, it is evident that the gainers were the party of the triumvirs, whose popularity would be increased by a belief being created that their opponents the Optimates were prepared to adopt extreme measures to get rid of them.
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Further reading
Portuguese
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cui bonō.
Phrase
cui bono?
- who benefits? who profits?; cui bono