How to Use only fair in a Sentence

only fair

idiom
  • Rounding things out with the Commodores would be the only fair thing to do.
    Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, 17 Feb. 2023
  • By a five-point margin greater, right now 82% of the public thinks the economy’s only fair or poor.
    NBC News, 17 Apr. 2022
  • Some patients view billing for a provider’s time and expertise as only fair and a good use of their own time, as well.
    Benjamin Ryan, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
  • In fact, the women say that choosing two Bachelorettes was only fair.
    Elizabeth Wagmeister, Variety, 11 July 2022
  • Last summer, Jess was promoted to co-head coach, giving the couple equal billing, which was only fair, since their duties were equal.
    Kent Somers, The Arizona Republic, 10 Mar. 2022
  • Three times as many, 76%, say economic conditions are only fair or poor.
    Kyle Morris, Fox News, 2 Mar. 2022
  • Views on the economy are more than two-to-one negative: 29 percent rate it as excellent/good and 69 percent say only fair/poor.
    Jack Durschlag, Fox News, 26 Apr. 2021
  • Honestly, the only fair match would have been Clayton versus Olu — but our future Bachelor gets paired up with Martin (and wins).
    Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 17 Nov. 2021
  • The alligator was left to bask undisturbed, which is only fair given that the bayou is part of the animal's natural habitat.
    Matthew Kitchen, Chron, 6 Mar. 2023
  • That's only fair, because no one goes into a routine screening expecting bad news.
    Taayoo Murray, Health.com, 9 Dec. 2021
  • If someone wants to talk about how our industry’s herd mentality contributed to SVB’s fate, that’s only fair.
    Nihal Mehta, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Plucking out genuinely funny gags in a watery Treehouse is only fair, so Homer's shriek upon seeing Maggie's posters in her bedroom mirror is a classic.
    Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 30 Oct. 2022
  • Perhaps a bit of self-deconstruction is only fair, considering how meticulously The Afterparty picks apart other genres to put them back together.
    Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan. 2022
  • Completely abandoning algorithmic promotion might be the only fair solution.
    Hiawatha Bray, BostonGlobe.com, 5 Oct. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'only fair.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: