so be it

See also: sobeit

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

so be it

1. (idiomatic, subjunctive) An indication of acceptance, especially of a situation which is not entirely favorable.

   Synonyms: be it so, it is what it is, that's life; see also Thesaurus:that's life

   Minister of State: Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Prime Minister, I beg to introduce a bill entitled an Act to amend the Interpretation Act.
   Clerk: Interpretation (Amendment) Bill.
   Speaker: Second reading what day?
   Minister of State: At the next available sitting.
   Speaker: So be it.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Doubloon”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 480:

     From storm to storm ! So be it, then. Born in throes, ’tis fit that man should live in pains and die in pangs! So be it, then! Here's stout stuff for woe to work on. So be it, then.

   • 2009 February 22, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, via ABC:

     It doesn't matter which party it is. If the people choose one, a Democrat, then so be it.

   • 2014 October 10, Diane M. Francis, “Why Does China Get To Renege on Its Promise of Democracy in Hong Kong?”, in HuffPost‎^[1]:

     The reason was that China's stability was at stake, according to Singapore's statesman Lee Kuan Yew. He once said: "He (Deng Xiaoping) took over and said, "If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."

Related terms

• sobeit

Translations

indication of acceptance

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 就這樣吧／就这样吧 (jiù zhèyàng ba)

• Dutch: het zij zo
• Esperanto: estu ĝi
• Estonian: olgu nii
• Finnish: olkoon menneeksi, olkoon niin
• French: soit (fr), ainsi soit-il (fr), qu’il en soit ainsi
• German: so sei es, sei's drum
• Greek: ας είναι (as eínai)
• Hebrew: אמן (he) (amén), ניחא (he) (nicha), מילא (méyle)
• Hungarian: ám legyen
• Italian: transeat, sia pure, così sia (it)
• Latin: transeat (la)
• Navajo: tʼáá ákótʼée doo
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: la gå, da så (no), det får så være

  Norwegian Nynorsk: la gå, då så, det får så vera

• Ojibwe: maanoo, maanoon
• Polish: niech będzie
• Portuguese: que seja, assim seja
• Russian: так и бы́ть (ru) (tak i býtʹ), быть по сему́ (bytʹ po semú)
• Serbo-Croatian: neka tako bude, u redu, neka (sh)
• Spanish: así sea
• Swedish: då så
• Thai: ทำไปเลยถ้าอยากทำ (tham pai loei tha yak tham)
• Turkish: öyle olsun
• Ukrainian: хай так (xaj tak)

See also

• as the case may be
• be that as it may
• let it be

Anagrams

• is-to-be, tobies