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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

Washington has experience with Shakespeare adaptations, starring as Julius Caesar on Broadway in 2005 as well a role in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 big screen take on Much Ado About Nothing.

From The Guardian • Mar. 28, 2019

Much Ado About Nothing Young love blossoms while former lovers bicker in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy; three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall directs.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2018

A meet cute, sparring enemies who become lovers, a wisecracking coterie of buddies, an outstanding amount of lying — these are elements of surefire entertainment older than Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."

From Salon • Jul. 23, 2018

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

Whatever it was supposed to be much more than, Much Ado About Nothing wasn’t funny.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt