TANSTAAFL

Domain	Definition
Computing	TANSTAAFL /tan'stah-fl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of software, or at the signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well, TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom (see Appendix B for discussion). Outside hacker circles the variant TINSTAAFL ("There is No Such Thing...") is apparently more common, and can be traced back to 1952 in the writings of ethicist Alvin Hansen. TANSTAAFL may well have arisen from it by mutation. Source: Jargon File.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: TANSTAAFL

TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," which was invented by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein and promulgated in his 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Simply put, it means that you can't get something for nothing. Even if something appears to be free, there's always a catch -- someone wants something from you in return.

This argument may also be applied to natural physical processes; see thermodynamics. In mathematical finance, the term is also used as a informal synonym for the principle of no-arbitrage.

Abbreviations & Acronyms: TANSTAAFL

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
TANSTAAFL	English	There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch	Computer - (slang, Usenet)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Frequency of Internet Keywords: TANSTAAFL

Anagrams: TANSTAAFL

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-a-f-l-n-s-t-t"
	-2 letters: fantast, saltant.
	-3 letters: alants, aslant, statal.
	-4 letters: alans, alant, alfas, anlas, antas, asana, atlas, fatal, flans, flats, nasal, natal, slant, talas.
	-5 letters: aals, alan, alas, alfa, alts, anal, anas, ansa, anta, ants, fans, fast, fats, flan, flat, last, lats, salt, slat, stat, tala, tans, tats.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-a-f-l-n-s-t-t"
	+2 letters: fantastical.
	+4 letters: fantastically.
	+5 letters: fantasticality, stagflationary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.