sweet Fanny Adams - Glite Dictionary

Examples

I asked for a refund but got sweet Fanny Adams in return.
He knows sweet Fanny Adams about the project.
Despite all his promises, the company delivered sweet Fanny Adams.
I have sweet Fanny Adams to offer you.
After all that work, we received sweet Fanny Adams as our reward.
He promised to help, but in the end, he gave us sweet Fanny Adams.
The report provided sweet Fanny Adams on the team's progress.

Synonyms

nothing

vssweet Fanny Adams

∞ 1.0

Not anything of interest or value

is an idiomatic, emphatic expression stressing complete absence

nothin

vssweet Fanny Adams

Informal

19 9.9

Not anything or zero

is the idiomatic phrase that adds stronger emphasis

fuck all

vssweet Fanny Adams

Offensive

15 9.9

A very small or no amount of something

is a milder, more euphemistic exclamation with similar use

diddley

vssweet Fanny Adams

Informal

7 9.9

A very small amount, almost nothing

is a stronger exclamation stressing total absence rather than smallness

bugger all

vssweet Fanny Adams

NSFW

4 9.9

Very little or nothing

is a more playful phrase that adds emphasis without crude words

not much of anything

vssweet Fanny Adams

2 4.3

Almost nothing of value

is a firmer idiom used to state total absence

sweet fuck all

vssweet Fanny Adams

Offensive

1 9.9

A very rude way to say you have nothing at all

is the less vulgar playful version of the same idea

nowt

vssweet Fanny Adams

UK

1 9.9

Not anything at all

is the idiomatic phrase used more broadly for strong emphasis

Fanny Adams

vssweet Fanny Adams

Archaic

9.9

A way to say you have nothing or very little

is the fuller idiom adding strong emphasis

Antonyms

something

∞ 1.0

An unknown object or idea that is not named

everything

∞ 1.0

All the things or all that someone has

Surface Forms

sweet Fanny Adams singular

sweet Fanny Adamses plural

Morphology

sweet + Fanny + Adams

The meaning 'nothing at all' is not derivable from the literal parts: 'sweet' is an adjective with positive/sugary senses and 'Fanny Adams' are personal names, so a learner knowing the words would not predict the sense of emptiness. This is a historically rooted, idiomatic British euphemism (often shortened to 'sweet F.A.') and thus unpredictable and opaque to B1 learners and not supported cross-linguistically.

Etymology

Sweet Fanny Adams may come from a sad story long ago in England about a girl named Fanny Adams, and sailors later used her name to mock poor tinned food as being worthless. Over time the name was shortened to sweet FA and came to mean 'nothing at all', which is why we use it today.