none of your business
- idiom
- Informal
- It's really none of your business.
What people think of you is none of your business.
- What people think of you is none of your business.
- So it it mattered that there was a sense of toleration and you should let your neighbor practice what they themselves believe because it's just none of your business.
Examples
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None of your business.
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That's none of your business, Ben Tipton!
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Lady, it's none of your business.
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That is none of your business.
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Absolutely none of your business.
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It's none of your business how I'm going to do it.
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None of your business, pal.
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Mike, look, we've been friends for a long time, but some things are just none of your business.
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None of your business who's coming.
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When she asked about my financial situation, I told her, "That's none of your business."
Synonyms
A rude phrase to tell someone something is not their business
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'none' (no part) + 'of' (belonging to) + 'your' (you) + 'business' (a matter concerning someone) yields 'not a matter that concerns you.' This negation-of-possession pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will typically understand it.
Etymology
None of your business comes from using business to mean someone's private matters. Saying none of your business is like saying 'this matter is not yours', so it means 'not your concern' or 'private'.