得不偿失

dé bù cháng shī

the loss outweighs the gain

Character by character

得dé
gain

不bù
not

偿cháng
repay

失shī
loss

为了省一点儿钱耽误了时间，得不偿失。

Wasting time to save a little money just isn't worth it.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Works as a verdict at the end of a sentence; 偿 cháng means 'make up for'.

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