nothing more than
92
2.9
- idiom
:
nada más que
- The city maintains that the scanners are nothing more than part of a new time and payroll system.
- often nothing more than
- in fact, it was nothing more than
- nothing more than an old
In fact, he's nothing more than a Cuban muppet.
- In fact, he's nothing more than a Cuban muppet.
- And I think what she is saying is nothing more than old fashioned ageism.
- But when you look at the Peter Wright book, it was nothing more than gossip really.
- He says what we have here are really nothing more than empty, subjective opinions.
- Because of course the Counterweight Continent was nothing more than a solar myth.
- It's their pronouncement that you are nothing more than a psychological punching bag for them.
- The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are nothing more than rebranded Red Shirts and White Leagues.
- And what if that failure is nothing more than something you needed so you could be stronger?
- And so CNN is, I think, nothing more than it's the whole model is dying.
Examples
-
In a letter to her daughter, Claire described the episode as nothing more than an annoyance.
Fiction book (1992) -
I wish for nothing more than to be free of my gilded cage.
-
This whole thing in life is nothing more than a race against time.
-
So when the stock market is selling off, it's nothing more than things going on sale.
-
But reality is nothing more than what you see with your sight.
-
The root he had provided for her did nothing more than help her sleep.
Fiction book (1992) -
The art of reasoning is nothing more than language well arranged.
-
But when you look at the Peter Wright book, it was nothing more than gossip really.
-
His reasoning led him to reduce the Industrial Revolution to nothing more than the division of labor.
Academic text (1992) -
This whole thing in life is nothing more than a race against time.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
You say this when something is only what is said, nothing more
∞
1.5
Only, not anything else
836
3.1
Only and nothing more
479
1.3
Not having more of a quality than someone or something else
How Limited
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is compositional: 'nothing' combined with the comparative phrase 'more than' yields a limiting sense equivalent to 'only' or 'just'. This structure follows a straightforward negation + comparison pattern that is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words is likely to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Nothing more than paints a simple picture: imagine an object on a scale and there is nothing extra — the words nothing and more show there is no extra beyond what you see. So it is used to say something is 'only' what is stated and not better or different.