nothing if not
19
7.9
- idiom
- Formal
:
sin duda
- They're nothing if not hard workers.
I have nothing if not persistent.
- I have nothing if not persistent.
Examples
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You are nothing if not full of surprises.
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Yeah, I'm nothing if not a patriot.
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Your dad was nothing if not prepared.
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I am nothing if not traditional.
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The hotel and restaurant business was nothing if not interesting, but Margaret had never liked it much.
Fiction book (1998) -
I have nothing if not persistent.
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I'm nothing if not fair.
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We're nothing if not appreciative.
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Students who are gifted thrive on challenge, and writing a novel in one month is nothing if not challenging.
Academic text (2012) -
Your dad was nothing if not prepared for any situation.
Antonyms
How Emphatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'nothing if not' functions as an idiomatic intensifier (e.g. 'very' or 'certainly') and its pragmatic meaning does not follow transparently from the literal senses of 'nothing', 'if', and 'not'. The concessive/intensifying use of 'if not' is language-specific and requires exposure to the fixed pattern, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Nothing if not comes from a simple idea: saying nothing and if not means there may be nothing else about someone, but this one quality is true and strong. So when you say someone is nothing if not X, you mean they are 'very' or 'certainly' X.