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• Much Ado About Nothing
  Much Ado About Nothing

  noun

  a comedy (1598?) by Shakespeare.
• much ado about nothing
  much ado about nothing

  A big fuss over a trifle, as in Jerry had everyone running around looking for his gloves—much ado about nothing. Although this expression is best remembered as the title of Shakespeare's comedy, the phrase much ado was already being used for a big commotion or trouble in the early 1500s.

Much Ado About Nothing

American  

noun

1. a comedy (1598?) by Shakespeare.

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much ado about nothing Idioms  

1. A big fuss over a trifle, as in Jerry had everyone running around looking for his gloves—much ado about nothing. Although this expression is best remembered as the title of Shakespeare's comedy, the phrase much ado was already being used for a big commotion or trouble in the early 1500s.

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Example Sentences

His next project was Much Ado About Nothing, a masterpiece, set in an Italian villa with his then partner Emma Thomson playing Beatrice joyfully to his Benedick.

From BBC • Sep. 11, 2025

He also got to see the 2019 Shakespeare in the Park production of "Much Ado About Nothing" — those tickets are free, but handed out either by lottery or to folks who wait in line.

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2024

After Batman, Keaton took a series of notably unstarry roles – a tenant from hell opposite Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine in Pacific Heights, a hammy Dogberry in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing.

From The Guardian • Sep. 9, 2017

Over the next four years, he would write, produce, and act in a half-dozen stone masterpieces: Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet.

From Slate • Nov. 7, 2016

Next is a monologue from Much Ado About Nothing, which is actually pretty good, but will be totally lost on the judges.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy