Meanings
adverbdevil a bit (not comparable)
- colloquialdatednot comparableSynonym of not at all.
“Devil a bit, Ma’am,” said the Major. “We couldn’t afford it. Unless the world was peopled with J.B.’s—tough and blunt old Joes, Ma’am, plain red herrings with hard roes, Sir—we couldn’t afford it. It wouldn’t do.”
1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLCSynonyms: not at all
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbSynonym of not at all.
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Cite this entry
APA
devil a bit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20a%20bit
MLA
“devil a bit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20a%20bit. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devil a bit,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devil%20a%20bit.
Source: devil a bit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.