sweet nothings
5
6.6
- noun
- /swit ˈnʌθɪŋz/
- Informal
:
palabras de amor
- I can only imagine what sweet nothings are coming out of your mouth right now.
- whisper sweet nothings
- sweet nothings in my ear
- murmur sweet nothings
Wow, these are meaningless sweet nothings.
- Wow, these are meaningless sweet nothings.
- He knows how to whisper sweet nothings into your ear to make you fall for his nonsense.
- And she, she, she says all these sweet nothings to me when we're intimate, but doesn't actually play in reality.
Examples
-
I whisper sweet nothings to you.
Blog text (28) -
He knows how to whisper sweet nothings into your ear to make you fall for his nonsense.
-
I hear you whispering sweet nothings to each other.
-
I murmur sweet nothings to soothe.
Fiction book (1990) -
Whisper those sweet nothings to me, Byron, if you can, through your ruined voice.
-
She swept him out of the room whispering French sweet nothings.
-
No tiresome candle-lit dinners and sweet nothings are necessary.
Fiction book (1994) -
When you... when you're in love with someone and you're whispering sweet nothings in their ears.
-
In dating and relationships, it's the same but reversed most of the time; women are more adept than men when it comes to calling, texting, and even saying sweet nothings.
Blog text (23) -
As the sun set, they leaned in closer, sharing sweet nothings as the world faded away.
Synonyms
5
3.7
A word or phrase used to show love and care for someone
1
7.9
Small pleasant words said to fill silence or show affection
1
7.2
Smooth, pleasant speech that tries to trick people
Antonyms
How Romantic
56
2.0
- Informal
5
6.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'words of affection' is directly and predictably derived from 'sweet' (affectionate, charming) modifying 'nothings' (insubstantial or trivial remarks), so the phrase denotes affectionate but inconsequential talk. This compositional pattern is common and has equivalents in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents and context will likely understand it.
Etymology
The phrase sweet nothings comes from the picture of someone whispering soft, sweet words into a lover's ear that are really nothings, small, unimportant bits of talk. So it means 'words of affection' that sound lovely but do not say anything important.