English Reference
Idiom idiom

whatever helps you sleep at night


Believe what you want to believe if it makes you feel better.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

If you think that excuse is true, whatever helps you sleep at night.

CONTEXTUAL

You can tell yourself that you did not really need that promotion, but whatever helps you sleep at night.

COMPLEX

He justified his questionable business ethics as a necessary evil, to which his partner replied, whatever helps you sleep at night.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bank night

    An event where patrons are enticed to buy entry tickets into some venue, for example a movie theater, with the anticipation that they will be entered into a drawing to win an amount of money if their ticket is drawn and they are on-site at the time of the winning.

  2. 02

    beauty sleep

    Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful; (countable) an instance of such sleep.

  3. 03

    big sleep

    Death.

  4. 04

    call it a night

    To go to bed to sleep.

  5. 05

    call it an early night

    To go to bed or cease one's activities earlier in the evening than usual.

  6. 06

    can't help

    To be unable to avoid a situation, or stop something from happening.

  7. 07

    creature of the night

    A prostitute.

  8. 08

    cry for help

    Acting out as a means of displaying a subconscious desire for attention or help.

Last updated August 10, 2026