Word.ws English Dictionary

sweet nothings

sweet nothings noun: insubstantial or romantic words that are only meant to flatter, woo, or seduce.

Noun

sweet nothings pl (normally plural, singular sweet nothing)

  1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-normally) Insubstantial or romantic words that are only meant to flatter, woo, or seduce.
    • Hearing such words as these, in the sweetest, tenderest voice that ever caressed a lover's senses, Basil knew not how to word all that was in his heart. . . . Side by side, forgetful of all but their recovered peace, they talked sweet nothings.1904, George Gissing, chapter 28, in Veranilda
    • [T]he facts, to make matters worse, were made public with the usual affectionate letters that passed between them, full of sweet nothings.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

Forms of sweet nothings

singularsweet nothing

Questions about sweet nothings

What does sweet nothings mean?
Sweet nothings means insubstantial or romantic words that are only meant to flatter, woo, or seduce.
What part of speech is sweet nothings?
Sweet nothings is a noun.

Words near sweet nothings in the dictionary

  1. sweet mother of God
  2. sweet mother of Jesus
  3. sweet mother of Moses
  4. sweet mother of pearl
  5. sweet nothing
  6. sweet nothings
  7. sweet oil
  8. sweet oils
  9. sweet on
  10. sweet orange
  11. sweet oranges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sweet nothings (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: En-au-sweet nothings.ogg.

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