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Synonyms

no picnic

Idioms  

  1. Difficult, no fun, as in Recovering from abdominal surgery is no picnic. This expression, alluding to a picnic as a pleasant occasion, was first recorded in 1888.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Small-caps are no picnic either, with more than 40% of companies in the Russell 2000 being unprofitable, including lots of biotechs that require expertise to vet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Invading south Lebanon, however well reasoned or cleverly planned, is no picnic.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2024

And no picnic is complete without the quintessential summertime food: lobster rolls.

From Salon • Sep. 1, 2024

“As a community, we had to fight so hard to get these very basic amenities. How are you going to build a park with no picnic areas next to the water?”

From Seattle Times • Apr. 14, 2024

This has led to a great deal of observation and research on my part, but for him it is no picnic.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.