"same difference" meaning in English

See same difference in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-same difference.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference, which incidentally continues to make logical sense. Etymology templates: {{blend|en|||alt1=same (thing)|alt2=(no) difference}} Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference Head templates: {{head|en|noun}} same difference
  1. (idiomatic) A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: distinction without a difference Related terms: all the same, as broad as long, much of a muchness, potayto, potahto, six of one, half a dozen of the other, tomayto, tomahto

Download JSON data for same difference meaning in English (2.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "",
        "alt1": "same (thing)",
        "alt2": "(no) difference"
      },
      "expansion": "Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference",
      "name": "blend"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference, which incidentally continues to make logical sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "same difference",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English blends",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English oxymorons",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pro-sentences",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English singularia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Singularia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Constance Briscoe, The Accused, page 274",
          "text": "\"When you say she was a tart, do you mean a whore?\"\n\"It's the same difference,\" Betty said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter."
      ],
      "id": "en-same_difference-en-noun-qqCrcS-b",
      "links": [
        [
          "distinction",
          "distinction"
        ],
        [
          "makes no difference",
          "make a difference"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "all the same"
        },
        {
          "word": "as broad as long"
        },
        {
          "word": "much of a muchness"
        },
        {
          "word": "potayto, potahto"
        },
        {
          "word": "six of one, half a dozen of the other"
        },
        {
          "word": "tomayto, tomahto"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "distinction without a difference"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-same difference.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/66/En-au-same_difference.ogg/En-au-same_difference.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/En-au-same_difference.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "same difference"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "",
        "alt1": "same (thing)",
        "alt2": "(no) difference"
      },
      "expansion": "Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference",
      "name": "blend"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference, which incidentally continues to make logical sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun"
      },
      "expansion": "same difference",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "all the same"
    },
    {
      "word": "as broad as long"
    },
    {
      "word": "much of a muchness"
    },
    {
      "word": "potayto, potahto"
    },
    {
      "word": "six of one, half a dozen of the other"
    },
    {
      "word": "tomayto, tomahto"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English blends",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English oxymorons",
        "English pro-sentences",
        "English singularia tantum",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011, Constance Briscoe, The Accused, page 274",
          "text": "\"When you say she was a tart, do you mean a whore?\"\n\"It's the same difference,\" Betty said.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "distinction",
          "distinction"
        ],
        [
          "makes no difference",
          "make a difference"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "distinction without a difference"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-same difference.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/66/En-au-same_difference.ogg/En-au-same_difference.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/En-au-same_difference.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "same difference"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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.