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Synonyms

no great shakes

Idioms  

  1. Nothing out of the ordinary, mediocre, as in I'm afraid the new pitcher is no great shakes, or What I did with this decorating project was no great shakes. This term possibly alludes to the shaking of dice, which most often yields a mediocre result, but there is no evidence to support this theory. [Early 1800s]

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.

Its overall handling of mental illness is no great shakes either.

From Los Angeles Times

Their two previous quarterfinal duels at Roland Garros were actually no great shakes.

From New York Times

A third of the way in, we’ve already seen Kong use sign language, shower and scratch himself; Godzilla lay waste to a swath of Pensacola, Fla.; and the two wage a slugfest at sea, with Godzilla’s tail slicing through ships and Kong, no great shakes as a swimmer, struggling mightily out of his element.

From New York Times

It could be described as no great shakes.

From Washington Post

There’s only a single speaker, and it’s no great shakes.

From The Verge

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.