#643. Unimportance. -- N. unimportance, insignificance, nothingness, immateriality.
triviality, levity, frivolity; paltriness &c. Adj.; poverty; smallness &c. 32; vanity &c. (uselessness) 645; matter of indifference &c. 866; no object.
nothing, nothing to signify,, nothing worth speaking of, nothing particular, nothing to boast of, nothing to speak of; small matter, no great matter, trifling matter &c. Adj.; mere joke, mere nothing; hardly anything; scarcely anything; nonentity, small beer, cipher; no great shakes, peu de chose[Fr]; child's play, kinderspiel.
toy, plaything, popgun, paper pellet, gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, bagatelle, Rickshaw, knickknack, whim-wham, trifle, " trifles light as air "; yankee notions [U. S.].
trumpery, trash, rubbish, stuff, fatras[obs], frippery; " leather or prunello "; chaff, drug, froth bubble smoke, cobweb; weed; refuse &c. (inutility) 645; scum &c. (dirt) 653.
joke, jest, snap of the fingers; fudge &c. (unmeaning) 517; fiddlestick[obs], fiddlestick end[obs]; pack of nonsense, mere farce.
straw, pin, fig, button, rush; bulrush, feather, halfpenny, farthing, brass farthing, doit[obs], peppercorn, jot, rap, pinch of snuff, old son,; cent, mill, picayune, pistareen[obs], red cent [U.S.].
minutiae, details, minor details, small fry; dust in the balance, feather in the scale, drop in the ocean, flea-bite, molehill.
nine days' wonder, ridiculus mus[Lat]; flash in the pan &c. (impotence) 158; much ado about nothing &c. (overestimation) 482.
V. be unimportant &c. Adj.; not matter &c. 642; go for nothing, matter nothing, signify nothing, matter little, matter little or nothing; not matter a straw &c. n.
make light of &c. (underestimate) 483; catch at straws &c. (overestimate) 482.
Adj. unimportant; of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance &c. 642; immaterial; unessential, nonessential; indifferent.
subordinate &c. (inferior) 34; mediocre &c. (average) 29; passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace; uneventful, mere, common; ordinary &c. (habitual) 613; inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable.
trifling, trivial; slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle; puerile &c. (foolish) 499; airy, shallow; weak &c. 160; powerless &c. 158; frivolous, petty, niggling; piddling, peddling; fribble[obs], inane, ridiculous, farcical; finical, finikin[obs]; fiddle-faddle, fingle- fangle[obs], namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water.
poor, paltry, pitiful; contemptible &c. (contempt) 930; sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel[obs], weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid[obs], beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery; one-horse [U. S.]. not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw &c. n.;1 beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration; de lana caprina[It][obs]; vain &c. (useless) 645.
Adv. slightly &c. adj.; rather, somewhat, pretty well, tolerably. for aught one cares.
Int. no matter! pish! tush! tut! pshaw! pugh! pooh,pooh-pooh! fudge! bosh! humbug! fiddlestick[obs], fiddlestick end[obs]! fiddlededee! never mind! n'importe[Fr]! what signifies it, what boots it, what of it, what of that, what matter, what's the odds, a fig for' stuff and nonsense, stuff! nonsense!
Phr. magno conatu magnas nugas[Lat]; le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle[Fr]; it matters not, it does not signify; it is of no consequence, it is of no importance; elephantus non capit murem[Lat]; tempete dans un verre d'eau[Fr].