Word.ws English Dictionary

no shit, Sherlock

no shit, Sherlock interjection: a retort to someone who has just said something obvious.

Interjection

  1. (colloquial, derogatory, vulgar) A retort to someone who has just said something obvious.
    • Near-synonyms: no shit, you don't say, you think
    • "No shit, Sherlock. Take another look, see how they come to be bent."1976, Emmett Grogan, Final Score, page 264

Synonyms of no shit, Sherlock

Forms of no shit, Sherlock

alternative formNSS

Origin of no shit, Sherlock

A reference to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, suggesting that the interlocutor has just made an obvious deduction, which they see as a great one.

Questions about no shit, Sherlock

What does no shit, Sherlock mean?
No shit, Sherlock means a retort to someone who has just said something obvious.
What part of speech is no shit, Sherlock?
No shit, Sherlock is an interjection.

Words near no shit, Sherlock in the dictionary

  1. no score
  2. no screaming hell
  3. no sense no feeling
  4. no shame in my game
  5. no shit
  6. no shit, Sherlock
  7. no shot
  8. no show
  9. no show sock
  10. no show socks
  11. no show without Punch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: no shit, Sherlock (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-no shit, Sherlock.wav.

Cite this entry: “no shit, Sherlock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/no_shit%2C_sherlock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.