Meanings
present singular third person sweats the small stuff · participle present sweating the small stuff · participle past sweated the small stuff · past sweated the small stuff
- idiomaticinformalTo worry about petty issues or insignificant matters.
The prefrontal cortex is the other character in those internal battles that go on in your life. [...] The higher being who wishes you’d stop sweating the small stuff.
2017 April 20, Tim Urban, “Neuralink and the Brain’s Magical Future”, in Wait But Why, retrieved 21 Apr 2017
Origin
From the idea that small stuff, or small-diameter cordage used in sailing, should not be tightened by sweating, i. e. pulling the rope perpendicular to its length, as one does to pull large-diameter rope tight.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hungarian túlaggódja magát, apróságok miatt aggódik/aggodalmaskodik
- túlaggódja magátto worry about petty issues or insignificant matters
- apróságok miatt aggódik/aggodalmaskodikto worry about petty issues or insignificant matters
Spanish ahogarse en un vaso de agua
- ahogarse en un vaso de aguato worry about petty issues or insignificant matters
Cite this entry
sweat the small stuff. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweat%20the%20small%20stuff
“sweat the small stuff.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweat%20the%20small%20stuff. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweat the small stuff,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweat%20the%20small%20stuff.
Source: sweat the small stuff on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.