nothing

Pluralnothings

1. 1
   not anythingpronoun

   Not any thing at all; no thing of any kind.

   Nothing could explain the strange noise coming from the attic.

   After the fire, nothing remained of the old barn.

   UsageAdjectives follow it: nothing bad, nothing new. To express one negative in standard English, say I saw nothing or I didn't see anything.

   Oppositeeverything, something

2. 2
   small thingnouncountable or uncountable

   A trivial thing, or something of no real consequence or importance.

   He thanked me again and again, but it was really nothing.

   Their disagreement turned out to be nothing in the end.

   UsageIt's nothing waves off thanks or worry; nothing compared to makes something seem small.

   Similartrifle, triviality, bagatelle

   Note

   Here the word becomes a noun that can take a plural, naming something too small to matter, as when thanks are waved away because a favor was really nothing. Jeremy Taylor's sermons of 1651–1653 dismiss "curious inquiries after new nothings." The plural also carries the "tender remark" meaning.

3. 3
   interjection

   Used to dismiss or withdraw something you began to say, signaling that it is unimportant.

   He started to ask a question, then just muttered, "Nothing."

   "Did you want something?" "Nothing, it can wait."

4. 4
   adjective

   Of no importance, value, or quality; lacking any real substance or effort.

   The critics called it a nothing film, barely worth the ticket.

   She brushed off the insult as a nothing remark.

   UsageGoes before a noun and sounds dismissive: a nothing film, a nothing remark.

   Similartrivial, worthless, insignificant, forgettable, unimportant

   Oppositeimportant, significant

   Note

   Placed before a noun, the word turns dismissive: a nothing play is one no one expects to matter. It often carries hindsight, as when a team scores on what had seemed until then like a nothing play, and the dismissal is overturned in the same sentence.

5. 5
   not at alladverb

   In no respect or degree; not in any way.

   The answer was an impatient one—but, nothing daunted, he continued.

   1855, The Ladies' Repository

   The Motion from London to Syria is as much as nothing; and nothing altereth the relation which is between them.

   1662, Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems

   Note

   An adverb that negates a following word outright, much as not at all would. The phrase nothing daunted shows it at work: The Ladies' Repository used it in 1855 for someone pressing on after an impatient answer. It lives on mainly in set phrases such as nothing like as good and nothing daunted; elsewhere not at all or in no way is the everyday choice. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The Ladies' Repository used “nothing daunted” in 1855 to describe someone continuing after an impatient answer. en.wiktionary.org

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