Word.ws English Dictionary

nothingburger

Syllables: no·thing·burg·er/ˈnʌθɪŋbɜːɡə/US/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbɝɡɚ/

nothingburger noun: an unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity.

Noun

nothingburger (plural nothingburgers)

  1. (informal) An unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity.
    • After all, if it hadn’t been for Sam[uel] Goldwyn Farley [Granger] might very well be a nothingburger. However, I have a hunch this whole arrangement is on a friendly basis.1953 June 1, Louella O[ettinger] Parsons, “Farley Granger Wins His Release—at Last: But Sam Goldwyn Retains an Option to Sign Star again in 18 Months”, in San Francisco Examiner, volume CLXXXXVII...
    • I've had two fantastic mothers—one a hero who flew planes—and I turned out to be just a big nothingburger with no courage at all.2014, Fannie Flagg, “Sookie has the Blues”, in The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, London: Vintage Books, published 2015, →ISBN, page 278
  2. (informal) Something of less importance than its treatment suggests; also, something which is bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact.
    • She [Anne Gorsuch Burford] calls NACOA [the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere] a "joke" and a "nothingburger," whatever that is. Nothing I could say could more graphically demonstrate the contempt she has shown, and will continue to show again, for public service in general and...1984 July 31, Norman D’Amours, “Expressing the Sense of the House that It Disapproves the Appointment of Anne M[cGill] Burford”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 98th Congress...
    • Except for Easter, isn't March kind of a nothingburger (unless your birthday is in it!) month? Shall we try to make it memorable?1991, Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan, volume 210, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2
    Antonyms:
    somethingburger
  3. (informal) A matter of no concern, especially one that had been of concern; a non-issue.
    • The forecasted megastorm turned out to be a huge nothingburger.

Adjective

nothingburger (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact.
    • Well, I think better a splendid fake than those little-bitty, itsy-poo nothing burger gold dinkies you wear only because they're real.1970, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the New Single Girl, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Bernard Geis Associates, →OCLC, page 186
    • There are some good pictures here but the Brand-X reproduction and nothingburger design reduces the overall look to a clutter […]1981, American Photographer, volume 27, Boston, Mass.: American Photographic Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC

Examples of nothingburger in a sentence

  • She [Anne Gorsuch Burford] calls NACOA [the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere] a "joke" and a "nothingburger," whatever that is.1984 July 31, Norman D’Amours, “Expressing the Sense of the House that It Disapproves the Appointment of Anne M[cGill] Burford”, in...
  • Browner admitted that the new policies would have no impact […] Kaufman […] called Browner's announcement "a nothingburger."1993, Appalachian Journal, volume 21, Boone, N.C.: Appalachian State University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 104:
  • [A]s Lee Gomes of The Wall Street Journal noted in a great column last week, the announcement was "a model for how well-known companies can make a major media event out of a nothingburger."2005 October 17, Don Tennant, “Just Wondering”, in Don Tennant, editor, Computerworld: The Voice of IT Management, volume 39, number 42...
  • This 2005 Donald Trump tax return is a total nothingburger [title]2017 March 14, Chris Cillizza, “This 2005 Donald Trump tax return is a total nothingburger”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The...

Synonyms of nothingburger

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

Forms of nothingburger

pluralnothingburgers
alternative formnothing-burger
alternative formnothing burger

Origin of nothingburger

The noun is derived from nothing (pronoun, noun) + -burger (suffix forming names of hamburgers served in buns with the addition of specified foodstuffs, or with foodstuffs in place of the usual meat), a metaphorical reference to a burger missing a patty—its most significant component. The word was apparently coined by the American gossip columnist Louella Parsons (1881–1972) in her widely syndicated daily column “Louella’s Move-Go-’Round” of June 1, 1953: see the quotation. The adjective is derived from the noun.

Words formed from nothingburger

Questions about nothingburger

What does nothingburger mean?
Nothingburger means an unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity.
How do you use nothingburger in a sentence?
She [Anne Gorsuch Burford] calls NACOA [the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere] a "joke" and a "nothingburger," whatever that is.
What part of speech is nothingburger?
Nothingburger can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce nothingburger?
Nothingburger is pronounced /ˈnʌθɪŋbɜːɡə/ (UK).
What is the plural of nothingburger?
The plural of nothingburger is nothingburgers.

Words near nothingburger in the dictionary

  1. nothing-up-my-sleeve number
  2. nothing-up-my-sleeve numbers
  3. nothingarian
  4. nothingarianism
  5. nothingarians
  6. nothingburger
  7. nothingburgers
  8. nothingish
  9. nothingism
  10. nothingisms
  11. nothingist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nothingburger (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav.

Cite this entry: “nothingburger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nothingburger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.