small beer
1
7.9
- noun
- Archaic
:
cosa trivial
- They are, however, small beer in the overall picture of Third World debt and not therefore worth further digression.
That's that's really small beer compared to the grammatical hierarchical syntax which human language has.
- That's that's really small beer compared to the grammatical hierarchical syntax which human language has.
Examples
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His complaints about the weather were just small beer in light of the larger problems we need to address.
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If he'd been a business tycoon, of course, things would be quite different... ...The trouble is... ...Fortnum's such um pitiably small beer.
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Called them all small beer.
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It is much more serious than small beer and soda.
Blog text (19) -
That's that's really small beer compared to the grammatical hierarchical syntax which human language has.
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The argument over the restaurant's opening hours was small beer compared to the issues facing the community.
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In the grand scheme of things, these minor concerns are considered small beer when we have major decisions to make.
Synonyms
84
4.2
Small unimportant facts that people like to know
18
4.6
A small unimportant thing not worth any attention
6
5.4
A small detail that does not matter
Very unimportant and not worth worrying about
Antonyms
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
small + beer
The literal combination 'small' + 'beer' would most likely be interpreted by a B1 learner as a small quantity or size of beer, not as 'unimportant'. The idiomatic sense 'trivial' is cultural/metaphorical (originating from cheap or inferior beer) and is not predictably derived from the constituents, so learners need prior exposure.
Etymology
The phrase small beer comes from weak, everyday beer that people drank because it was cheap and ordinary. Because that beer was not strong or special, calling something small beer came to mean 'unimportant'.