To do right by means to treat someone in an ethical, moral, or honorable fashion. Do right by implies that one is making up for past wrongs inflicted on that person. Do right by is an idiom, related terms are did right by, does right by and doing right by. Do right by should be followed by an object pronoun or noun. According to Google Ngram, the idiom do right by first appears in the mid-1700s and has steadily gained in popularity ever since.
Examples
“For Ontario’s seniors, life is simply harder under this government. They need to do right by our seniors and stop this plan in its tracks.” (The North Bay Nugget)
About 10 months remain in Obama’s presidency, but there’s still time for him to do right by Chicago and by the music so bound up with this city and this country. (The Chicago Tribune)
It’s even more disturbing that local officials are closing ranks around him with lame excuses and no reassurances to do right by those communities. (The Des Moines Register)
Sounding a warning that legislators in Albany are chipping away at gun-owners’ rights, with continued support of the firearm-restricting SAFE Act, Neuhaus told attendees to be watchful of legislators who “show up and glad-hand and don’t do right by us.” (The Times Herald-Record)
Marvel has said that in A Nation Under Our Feet there will be “dramatic upheaval” in Wakanda, as the Black Panther “struggles to do right by his people as their ruler”. (The Guardian)
But that was Parker’s job, to do right by his clients, and he did so while still earning the respect of teams he negotiated with. (The News-Sentinel)
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