drop in the bucket

drop in the bucket noun: something of little importance, especially an inconsequential effort or action as compared to a huge problem.

Noun

drop in the bucket (plural drops in the bucket)

(idiomatic) Something of little importance, especially an inconsequential effort or action as compared to a huge problem.
- A $100 donation from an individual is generous, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the $100,000 fundraising goal.
Synonyms:

drop in the ocean, drop in the sea, spit in the ocean, bagatelle, bag of shells, bric-a-brac, dicky, dicky-bird, fico, fig

an effort or action having very little influence, especially as compared to a huge problem: قَطْرَة فِي الْمُحِيط qaṭra fī l-muḥīṭ

an effort or action having very little influence, especially as compared to a huge problem: muối bỏ biển

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

plural	drops in the bucket

First used in Wycliffe's Bible, from Isaiah 40:15.

What does drop in the bucket mean?: Drop in the bucket means something of little importance, especially an inconsequential effort or action as compared to a huge problem.
What is drop in the bucket in Arabic?: Drop in the bucket in Arabic is قَطْرَة فِي الْمُحِيط (qaṭra fī l-muḥīṭ). See Drop in the bucket meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is drop in the bucket?: Drop in the bucket is a noun.
What is the plural of drop in the bucket?: The plural of drop in the bucket is drops in the bucket.

Adapted from Wiktionary: drop in the bucket (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-drop in the bucket.ogg.

Cite this entry: “drop in the bucket.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drop_in_the_bucket. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.