1. The most impact or results for one's money: Joe's determination to work out as often as possible at the local fitness studio gave him more bangs for the bucks for his physical well-being than if he were sitting around and watching TV too often.
2. Value for the money spent or a favorable cost-to-benefit ratio: It does matter what gets built: the country spent too much on increasingly wasteful roads and bridges, and not enough in areas like education and social services, which studies show deliver more bangs for the bucks than infrastructure spending.