by rights

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -aɪts

Prepositional phrase

(idiomatic) Properly, in justice.
The post of vice-president should, by rights, have been given to John.
- 2007 September 27, Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, distributed by Paramount Vantage & Miramax Films, spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis):
  The rest will be speculators, that's men trying to get between you and the oilmen to get some of the money that ought, by rights, come to you.
- 2011, Eilidh Nisbet, Giddy Old School: The Diary of a Swot 1948-1951, page 268:
  By rights I ought to have been lolling in bed this morning, but Nancy was ill and I had to goalkeep for the Second.

Synonyms

(properly): by all rights, in fairness

Translations

properly, in justice

Dutch: rechtens (nl)
French: légitimement (fr)
Italian: di diritto
Russian: по пра́ву (po právu)
Spanish: en justicia

See also

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