drop in the bucket
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A very small quantity, especially one that is too small. For example, These contributions are just a drop in the bucket; the new church wing will cost thousands more. John Wycliffe's followers used this seemingly modern phrase in their translation of the Bible (1382), and it also appears in the 1611 King James version (Isaiah 40:15): “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.”
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Words nearby drop in the bucket
drop-in, drop-in centre, drop initial, drop in one's tracks, drop in someone's lap, drop in the bucket, drop keel, drop kick, drop leaf, droplet, droplet infection
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.