much ado about nothing

English

Alternative forms

• much adoe about nothing (archaic)

Etymology

Early 1500s, and first found in The Defense of the Aunswere to the Admonition, against the Replie of T. C., a 1574 pamphlet by John Whitgift (Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to 1604).

Made popular and particularly known from the title of the 1598 comedy play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare had earlier used ado (“business, activity”) in the play Romeo and Juliet (1592) "Weele keepe no great adoe, a Friend or two.", though it is now frequently used to mean fuss as a contraction of the phrase here; nothing in the title of the play is a wordplay which can also mean noting (“to notice”) besides the usual meaning of nothing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mʌtʃ əˈduː əˈbaʊt ˈnʌθɪŋ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Phrase

much ado about nothing

1. (idiomatic) A lot of fuss or bother about something trivial.

Translations

a lot of fuss

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大驚小怪／大惊小怪 (zh) (dà jīng xiǎo guài)

• Esperanto: multa bruo pri nenio
• Finnish: paljon melua tyhjästä
• French: beaucoup de bruit pour rien (fr)
• Galician: cacarexar moito e non poñer ovo
• German: viel Lärm um nichts, viel Geschrei und wenig Wolle (de)
• Irish: duifean mór ar bheagán fearthainne, glór mór ar bheagán cúise, mórán cainte ar bheagán cúise
• Italian: tanto rumore per nulla
• Japanese: 空騒ぎ (からさわぎ, karasawagi)
• Polish: (robić) wiele hałasu o nic, z dużej chmury mały deszcz (pl)
• Portuguese: tempestade em copo d'água (pt), tempestade num copo d'água
• Russian: мно́го шу́ма из ничего́ (mnógo šúma iz ničevó)
• Spanish: mucho ruido y pocas nueces (colloquial)
• Swedish: mycket väsen för ingenting (sv)

References

• Gary Martin (1997–) “Much ado about nothing”, in The Phrase Finder.
• “much ado about nothing”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “much ado about nothing” in Idioms and phrases, TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.