nothing doing

1. Certainly not, as in Can I borrow your down coat?—Nothing doing. This colloquial interjection was first recorded in 1910. Also see, no dice.

Example Sentences

“I considered many times just silently leaving Andrew and saying nothing, doing nothing, because I was scared and because it was honestly hard for me to accept that I was being abused. But I can now see that doing so would be the cowardly approach.”

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In “Nothing Doing,” a work-in-progress, clown Alex Tatarsky announced at the top that they didn’t believe in work or progress.

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But so much of it still involves nothing: doing nothing, feeling nothing, going nowhere.

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Axel Tuanzebe, already on a booking, looks like he checks a Norwich player but nothing doing, the away side go down the other end and Omari Hucthinson goes down in the area under the attentions of Borja Sainz.

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Jimmy's prediction: Nothing doing for Villa here!

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Related Words

• rebuke 
• rejection 
• reprimand 
• snub