View synonyms for

small beer

noun

weak beer.
Chiefly British Slang.��matters or persons of little or no importance.

small beer

noun

informal��people or things of no importance

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Word History and Origins

Origin of small beer¹

First recorded in 1560–70

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He said it would cost "an additional £15m in funding - 'small beer' in funding terms - to rectify".

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“On the other hand, we may not need to do as much small beer.”

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"But it's small beer in terms of the overall value of the project they are building and the profit that they will take out of that," he added.

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The soju will be served with shot glasses, while the beer is often served with small beer glasses.

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But Close didn’t drink much at the time and was mocked by his peers for ordering only small beers.

From

small arms small-bore

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