too good to be true

English

Phrase

too good to be true

1. (idiomatic) Appearing to be exceptionally good, and therefore arousing suspicion of illegitimacy.

   He wants to give you two million dollars? That's just too good to be true!

   • 2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “IRP snuffs out 'levelling up'”, in RAIL, number 945, page 3:

     Remember the old saying that if something looks too good to be true, then it almost certainly is?

Synonyms

• too good to last

Translations

appearing to be exceptionally good, and therefore arousing suspicion of illegitimacy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 太好太不真实 (tài hǎo tài bù zhēnshí)

• Dutch: te mooi om waar te zijn
• Finnish: liian hyvä ollakseen totta
• French: trop beau pour être vrai (fr)
• German: zu gut, um wahr zu sein
• Hungarian: túl szép, hogy igaz legyen
• Japanese: それは話がうますぎる。 (sore wa hanashi ga uma sugiru), あの類の人は、信用できない。 (ano ruino hitowa shin'yōdekinai)
• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see bajka z tysiąca i jednej nocy
• Swedish: för bra för att vara sant

See also

• cognitive bias

References

• “too good to be true”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.