much ado about nothing
5
7.5
- idiom
- /mʌtʃ əˈduː əˈbaʊt ˈnʌθɪŋ/
- Informal
:
mucho ruido y pocas nueces
- The debate over the new policy seemed like much ado about nothing to those not involved.
- much ado about nothing
- making much ado about nothing
Is this reaction warranted or is this Much Ado about nothing as they say?
- Is this reaction warranted or is this Much Ado about nothing as they say?
- So I'm just like, wait, is this Much Ado about nothing?
Examples
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Everyone was worried about the delay, but it turned out to be much ado about nothing.
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As far as I'm concerned, it's much ado about nothing.
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Some board members feel that the concerns raised by the Times were much ado about nothing.
Blog text (5) -
I think you have made much ado about nothing, sir.
Blog text (33) -
In any case, this is much ado about nothing.
Blog text (19) -
"It was a lot of ado about nothing," the mayor said Friday.
Blog text (31) -
Make no mistake... this isn't much ado about nothing.
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It seems like the whole much ado about nothing misses the main point.
Blog text (28) -
Because honestly, outside of Mitt Romney's outrageous comments, this whole affair has been much ado about nothing.
Blog text (29) -
The supposed scandal proved to be much ado about nothing... when baseball commissioner Judge Landis fully acquitted the Georgia Peach... of all wrongdoing.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A loud, unnecessary fuss about something unimportant
1
3.0
A small disagreement about something unimportant
Too much detail or decoration that makes things complicated
Arguing about small unimportant details to avoid making a decision
Antonyms
How Much Fuss
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently built from the constituents: 'much' (a large amount) + 'ado' (fuss) + 'about' (concerning) + 'nothing' (of no importance), yielding 'a lot of fuss about nothing.' This compositional pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows all the words can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The idiom much ado about nothing comes from a play by Shakespeare, where people make much ado ('a lot of fuss') about nothing ('not important'). That's why the phrase means 'a lot of fuss or worry about something unimportant'.