"nothing to see here" meaning in All languages combined

See nothing to see here on Wiktionary

Phrase [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nothing to see here.wav
Etymology: Derived from the police directive "Nothing to see here, move along," historically used to clear bystanders from crime or accident scenes. The phrase gained widespread recognition after its comedic use in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), where Frank Drebin (played by Leslie Nielsen) tries to defuse a chaotic scene by stating, "Move along! Nothing to see here!" Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} nothing to see here
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nothing, to, see, here. Synonyms: move along, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, elephant in the room
    Sense id: en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase--puxqByq
  2. (originally law enforcement jargon) The event or situation is unremarkable or unimportant, and people should not pay undue attention to it.
    Sense id: en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase-r9-MLrBA Categories (other): Law enforcement
  3. (figuratively, often ironic or sarcastic) A phrase used to dismiss or downplay an event, frequently implying that there is, in fact, something significant being hidden or covered up. Tags: figuratively, ironic, often, sarcastic
    Sense id: en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase-CEj9b~QF Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 3 25 72 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 4 25 71 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 3 25 72
{
  "etymology_text": "Derived from the police directive \"Nothing to see here, move along,\" historically used to clear bystanders from crime or accident scenes. The phrase gained widespread recognition after its comedic use in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), where Frank Drebin (played by Leslie Nielsen) tries to defuse a chaotic scene by stating, \"Move along! Nothing to see here!\"",
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              58,
              77
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This town is very unattractive to tourists, since there's nothing to see here.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nothing, to, see, here."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase--puxqByq",
      "links": [
        [
          "nothing",
          "nothing#English"
        ],
        [
          "to",
          "to#English"
        ],
        [
          "see",
          "see#English"
        ],
        [
          "here",
          "here#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "50 14 36",
          "word": "move along"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "50 14 36",
          "word": "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "50 14 36",
          "word": "elephant in the room"
        }
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Law enforcement",
          "orig": "en:Law enforcement",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              109,
              128
            ]
          ],
          "text": "After the press conference about the financial scandal, the spokesperson reassured the public that there was nothing to see here.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The event or situation is unremarkable or unimportant, and people should not pay undue attention to it."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase-r9-MLrBA",
      "links": [
        [
          "law enforcement",
          "law enforcement"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally law enforcement jargon) The event or situation is unremarkable or unimportant, and people should not pay undue attention to it."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "3 25 72",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              95
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The politician's vague response to corruption allegations was essentially a nothing-to-see-here moment.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              112,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "text": "A factory discharged waste into the river, but officials insisted it posed no danger. There was a sentiment of \"nothing to see here\".",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A phrase used to dismiss or downplay an event, frequently implying that there is, in fact, something significant being hidden or covered up."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothing_to_see_here-en-phrase-CEj9b~QF",
      "links": [
        [
          "ironic",
          "irony"
        ],
        [
          "sarcastic",
          "sarcastic"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, often ironic or sarcastic) A phrase used to dismiss or downplay an event, frequently implying that there is, in fact, something significant being hidden or covered up."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "ironic",
        "often",
        "sarcastic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nothing to see here.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/08/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-nothing_to_see_here.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-nothing_to_see_here.wav.mp3",
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    }
  ],
  "word": "nothing to see here"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Derived from the police directive \"Nothing to see here, move along,\" historically used to clear bystanders from crime or accident scenes. The phrase gained widespread recognition after its comedic use in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), where Frank Drebin (played by Leslie Nielsen) tries to defuse a chaotic scene by stating, \"Move along! Nothing to see here!\"",
  "head_templates": [
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        "1": "en",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              58,
              77
            ]
          ],
          "text": "This town is very unattractive to tourists, since there's nothing to see here.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nothing, to, see, here."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nothing",
          "nothing#English"
        ],
        [
          "to",
          "to#English"
        ],
        [
          "see",
          "see#English"
        ],
        [
          "here",
          "here#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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        "en:Law enforcement"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              109,
              128
            ]
          ],
          "text": "After the press conference about the financial scandal, the spokesperson reassured the public that there was nothing to see here.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The event or situation is unremarkable or unimportant, and people should not pay undue attention to it."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "law enforcement",
          "law enforcement"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally law enforcement jargon) The event or situation is unremarkable or unimportant, and people should not pay undue attention to it."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English sarcastic terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              76,
              95
            ]
          ],
          "text": "The politician's vague response to corruption allegations was essentially a nothing-to-see-here moment.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              112,
              131
            ]
          ],
          "text": "A factory discharged waste into the river, but officials insisted it posed no danger. There was a sentiment of \"nothing to see here\".",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A phrase used to dismiss or downplay an event, frequently implying that there is, in fact, something significant being hidden or covered up."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ironic",
          "irony"
        ],
        [
          "sarcastic",
          "sarcastic"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, often ironic or sarcastic) A phrase used to dismiss or downplay an event, frequently implying that there is, in fact, something significant being hidden or covered up."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "ironic",
        "often",
        "sarcastic"
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    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "move along"
    },
    {
      "word": "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"
    },
    {
      "word": "elephant in the room"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nothing to see here"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (3dadd05 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.