laughed all the way to the bank
Celebrated financial success
To laugh all the way to the bank is to profit handsomely from something others doubted or criticized.
The phrase suggests vindication—someone dismissed your venture as foolish, but you made money anyway: Critics panned the movie, but the studio laughed all the way to the bank.
Sometimes used sarcastically about ill-gotten or undeserved gains.
- last laughTriumph after apparent defeat
- sweet revengeGratifying retaliation
- gleeExuberant, often impish delight
- schadenfreudeDelight in others' misfortune
- earningsMoney gained from work
proved wrong · smugness · wealth · fortune · prosperity · twist · triumph · dividends · reversal · windfall · irony · surplus · affluence · fat cat · cash cow · money talks · amusement · jackpot
vindication vs. criticism
laughed all the way to the bankfell flat on one's face
Failed embarrassingly and completely
laughed, laughing, laughs, laughter, laughable, laughably, laugher, always