Meanings
- not comparableOnly.
a right in nothing but name
4 more examples
Near-synonyms: nothing less than; nothing if not (in some usages)
Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
In an attempt to lose weight and improve his relationship with food, Andrew Taylor has decided to eat nothing but potatoes for a year.
2016 February 18, Jennie Jackson, “What would happen if you only ate potatoes?”, in The Independent"It's because they're hos," she told Owens. "If you don't run out of the room and go, 'Excuse me, you don't do that to me,' and leave, but you stayed around because you're like, 'Well, I thought maybe he was going to give me a writing job,' well, you aren't nothing but a ho."
2019 March 3, Lena Grossman, quoting Roseanne Barr, “Roseanne Barr Goes After #MeToo Movement in Scathing Interview: "They're Nothing But Hos"”, in E! OnlineSynonyms: absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, stone-cold, blind, altogether, stark
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbOnly.
Origin
- Old Englishnan
- Middle Englishnothyng
- Englishnothing but
From Middle English nothyng but, from Old English nan þing butan
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish vain, pelkästään
- vainnothing but
- pelkästäännothing but
French rien que, ne...que
- rien quenothing but
- ne...quenothing but
German nichts als
- nichts alsnothing but
Japanese 以外の何者でもない
- 以外の何者でもない (igai no nanimono de mo nai)nothing but
Norwegian Bokmål ikke noe annet enn, intet annet enn
- ikke noe annet ennnothing but
- intet annet ennnothing but
- ingenting annet ennnothing but
Romanian nimic altceva decât
- nimic altceva decâtnothing but
Swedish inget annat än, intet annat än
- inget annat ännothing but
- intet annat ännothing but
- ingenting annat ännothing but
Welsh dim ond, 'mond
- dim ondnothing but
- 'mondnothing but
Cite this entry
nothing but. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20but
“nothing but.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20but. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nothing but,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20but.
Source: nothing but on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.