"nothingburger" meaning in English

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "somethingburger"
    }
  ],
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "nothing",
        "3": "burger",
        "pos1": "pronoun, noun",
        "pos2": "suffix forming names of hamburgers served in buns with the addition of specified foodstuffs, or with foodstuffs in place of the usual meat"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "suffix"
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        "2": "Louella Parsons",
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      },
      "expansion": "coined by the American gossip columnist Louella Parsons",
      "name": "coinage"
    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "adjective",
      "name": "glossary"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.\nThe adjective is derived from the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nothingburgers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nothingburger (plural nothingburgers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "no‧thing‧burg‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "shit sandwich"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "where's the beef"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "important person"
        }
      ],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 37 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -burger",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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, number 152, San Francisco, Calif.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33, column 2",
          "text": "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.\nThis is the earliest attestation of the word in print indicated in the Oxford English Dictionary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Fannie Flagg, “Sookie has the Blues”, in The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, London: Vintage Books, published 2015, page 278",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothingburger-en-noun-BelnG0MQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "unimportant",
          "unimportant"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "nobody",
          "nobody#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "nonentity",
          "nonentity"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nonentity"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "somethingburger"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 37 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -burger",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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, Second Session (United States House of Representatives), volume 130, part 16, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21664, column 1",
          "text": "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 for environmental protection in particular.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan, volume 210, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2",
          "text": "Except for Easter, isn't March kind of a nothingburger (unless your birthday is in it!) month? Shall we try to make it memorable?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Appalachian Journal, volume 21, Boone, N.C.: Appalachian State University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 104",
          "text": "Browner admitted that the new policies would have no impact […] Kaufman […] called Browner's announcement \"a nothingburger.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 September, Lucinda Rosenfeld, “Jason Barry Gold, or ‘The Varsity Lacrosse Stud’”, in What She Saw […], New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Random House, published September 2001, page 60",
          "text": "That's how ugly she was—ugly by virtue of the fact that she was unmemorable, a slab of alabaster awaiting a sculptor who never arrived, a \"nothing burger\" if ever there was one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 October 17, Don Tennant, “Just Wondering”, in Don Tennant, editor, Computerworld: The Voice of IT Management, volume 39, number 42, Framingham, Mass.: Computerworld, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 1",
          "text": "[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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 June 28, Greg Price, quoting Van Jones, “CNN's Van Jones Calls Trump-Russia Story ‘Nothing Burger,’ Newest Project Veritas Video Shows”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-22",
          "text": "The two shake hands and Jones is asked: \"What do you think is going to happen this week with the whole Russia thing?\" Jones responds: \"The Russia thing is just a big nothing burger.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something of less importance than its treatment suggests; also, something which is bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothingburger-en-noun-Dl0bWWll",
      "links": [
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ],
        [
          "treatment",
          "treatment"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest"
        ],
        [
          "bland",
          "bland#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nothing sandwich"
        },
        {
          "word": "unthing"
        },
        {
          "word": "trifle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "fupnummer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "varm luft"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "word": "yhtä tyhjän kanssa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "heiße Luft"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Lacher"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "feminine",
            "informal"
          ],
          "word": "Luftnummer"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "peth dibwys"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "9 91",
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "something of little importance",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mân beth"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋbəːɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbəɹɡəɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "nothing-burger"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "nothing burger"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dow Jones & Company",
    "The Wall Street Journal"
  ],
  "word": "nothingburger"
}

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  "etymology_text": "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.\nThe adjective is derived from the noun.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "expansion": "nothingburger (not comparable)",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "no‧thing‧burg‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "remarkable"
        },
        {
          "word": "significant"
        },
        {
          "word": "important"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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        {
          "_dis": "91 3 6",
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        {
          "_dis": "36 37 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -burger",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1970, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the New Single Girl, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Bernard Geis Associates, →OCLC, page 186",
          "text": "Well, I think better a splendid fake than those little-bitty, itsy-poo nothing burger gold dinkies you wear only because they're real.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981, American Photographer, volume 27, Boston, Mass.: American Photographic Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC",
          "text": "There are some good pictures here but the Brand-X reproduction and nothingburger design reduces the overall look to a clutter […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Bob Rich, “[Letter to the editor]”, in Car and Driver, volume 30, New York, N.Y.: Ziff Davis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13, column 1",
          "text": "For years you have touted anemic nothing[-]burger cars because they \"cornered\" and \"handled.\" Now the Corvette comes along and blows them into the weeds, and you cannot bring yourselves to give credit where it is due.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Helen Gurley Brown, “Work”, in The Late Show: A Semiwild but Practical Survival Plan for Women over 50, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, pages 285–286",
          "text": "I don't know anything about the offices of tycoons and moguls […] I just know about small busy squares or rectangles with computers, word processors, files and telephones, gray, beige or brown really nothingburger desks.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 May, Steve Ulfelder, Shotgun Lullaby, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, page 118",
          "text": "You can help me figure out why a pro like you, who looks to've spent time in some serious places, is babysitting Charlie Pundo's nothingburger baby-raping turd of a son.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "id": "en-nothingburger-en-adj-YAqtrawy",
      "links": [
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ],
        [
          "treatment",
          "treatment"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest"
        ],
        [
          "insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "unimportant",
          "unimportant"
        ],
        [
          "bland",
          "bland#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally and chiefly US, informal) Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "insignificant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋbəːɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
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      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbəɹɡəɹ/",
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dow Jones & Company",
    "The Wall Street Journal"
  ],
  "word": "nothingburger"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "American English",
    "English 4-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English coinages",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English informal terms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -burger",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "somethingburger"
    }
  ],
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      "args": {
        "1": "adjective"
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      "name": "glossary"
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  "etymology_text": "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.\nThe adjective is derived from the noun.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nothingburgers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nothingburger (plural nothingburgers)",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "no‧thing‧burg‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "shit sandwich"
    },
    {
      "word": "where's the beef"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "important person"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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, number 152, San Francisco, Calif.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33, column 2",
          "text": "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.\nThis is the earliest attestation of the word in print indicated in the Oxford English Dictionary.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Fannie Flagg, “Sookie has the Blues”, in The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, London: Vintage Books, published 2015, page 278",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unimportant",
          "unimportant"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "nobody",
          "nobody#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "nonentity",
          "nonentity"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nonentity"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "somethingburger"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "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, Second Session (United States House of Representatives), volume 130, part 16, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21664, column 1",
          "text": "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 for environmental protection in particular.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan, volume 210, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2",
          "text": "Except for Easter, isn't March kind of a nothingburger (unless your birthday is in it!) month? Shall we try to make it memorable?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Appalachian Journal, volume 21, Boone, N.C.: Appalachian State University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 104",
          "text": "Browner admitted that the new policies would have no impact […] Kaufman […] called Browner's announcement \"a nothingburger.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 September, Lucinda Rosenfeld, “Jason Barry Gold, or ‘The Varsity Lacrosse Stud’”, in What She Saw […], New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Random House, published September 2001, page 60",
          "text": "That's how ugly she was—ugly by virtue of the fact that she was unmemorable, a slab of alabaster awaiting a sculptor who never arrived, a \"nothing burger\" if ever there was one.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 October 17, Don Tennant, “Just Wondering”, in Don Tennant, editor, Computerworld: The Voice of IT Management, volume 39, number 42, Framingham, Mass.: Computerworld, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 1",
          "text": "[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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 June 28, Greg Price, quoting Van Jones, “CNN's Van Jones Calls Trump-Russia Story ‘Nothing Burger,’ Newest Project Veritas Video Shows”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-22",
          "text": "The two shake hands and Jones is asked: \"What do you think is going to happen this week with the whole Russia thing?\" Jones responds: \"The Russia thing is just a big nothing burger.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something of less importance than its treatment suggests; also, something which is bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ],
        [
          "treatment",
          "treatment"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest"
        ],
        [
          "bland",
          "bland#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nothing sandwich"
        },
        {
          "word": "unthing"
        },
        {
          "word": "trifle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋbəːɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbəɹɡəɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f7/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f7/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "nothing-burger"
    },
    {
      "word": "nothing burger"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "fupnummer"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "varm luft"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "word": "yhtä tyhjän kanssa"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "heiße Luft"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Lacher"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "informal"
      ],
      "word": "Luftnummer"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "peth dibwys"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "something of little importance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mân beth"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dow Jones & Company",
    "The Wall Street Journal"
  ],
  "word": "nothingburger"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "American English",
    "English 4-syllable words",
    "English adjectives",
    "English coinages",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English informal terms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -burger",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncomparable adjectives"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "noun",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "suffix"
      },
      "expansion": "suffix",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nothing",
        "3": "burger",
        "pos1": "pronoun, noun",
        "pos2": "suffix forming names of hamburgers served in buns with the addition of specified foodstuffs, or with foodstuffs in place of the usual meat"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "metaphorical"
      },
      "expansion": "metaphorical",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Louella Parsons",
        "nat": "the American",
        "nobycat": "1",
        "nocap": "1",
        "occ": "gossip columnist"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by the American gossip columnist Louella Parsons",
      "name": "coinage"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "adjective",
      "name": "glossary"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.\nThe adjective is derived from the noun.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "nothingburger (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "no‧thing‧burg‧er"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "remarkable"
        },
        {
          "word": "significant"
        },
        {
          "word": "important"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1970, Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the New Single Girl, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Bernard Geis Associates, →OCLC, page 186",
          "text": "Well, I think better a splendid fake than those little-bitty, itsy-poo nothing burger gold dinkies you wear only because they're real.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1981, American Photographer, volume 27, Boston, Mass.: American Photographic Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC",
          "text": "There are some good pictures here but the Brand-X reproduction and nothingburger design reduces the overall look to a clutter […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Bob Rich, “[Letter to the editor]”, in Car and Driver, volume 30, New York, N.Y.: Ziff Davis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13, column 1",
          "text": "For years you have touted anemic nothing[-]burger cars because they \"cornered\" and \"handled.\" Now the Corvette comes along and blows them into the weeds, and you cannot bring yourselves to give credit where it is due.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1993, Helen Gurley Brown, “Work”, in The Late Show: A Semiwild but Practical Survival Plan for Women over 50, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, pages 285–286",
          "text": "I don't know anything about the offices of tycoons and moguls […] I just know about small busy squares or rectangles with computers, word processors, files and telephones, gray, beige or brown really nothingburger desks.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 May, Steve Ulfelder, Shotgun Lullaby, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, page 118",
          "text": "You can help me figure out why a pro like you, who looks to've spent time in some serious places, is babysitting Charlie Pundo's nothingburger baby-raping turd of a son.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "importance",
          "importance"
        ],
        [
          "treatment",
          "treatment"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest"
        ],
        [
          "insignificant",
          "insignificant"
        ],
        [
          "unimportant",
          "unimportant"
        ],
        [
          "bland",
          "bland#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ],
        [
          "impact",
          "impact#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally and chiefly US, informal) Of less importance than its treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "insignificant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋbəːɡə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈnʌθɪŋˌbəɹɡəɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f7/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f7/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-nothingburger.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Dow Jones & Company",
    "The Wall Street Journal"
  ],
  "word": "nothingburger"
}