nothing new under the sun

Cultural  

1. A phrase adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes; the author complains frequently in the book about the monotony of life. The entire passage reads, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

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nothing new under the sun Idioms  

1. Everything has been seen before, as in Those designs take me back to the 1950s—there really is nothing new under the sun. This world-weary view was already expressed in 1382 in the Bible translation attributed to John Wycliffe's followers: “No thing under the sun is new” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nothing new under the sun

But while one can complain that there’s nothing new under the sun, a singer can tackle a song you’ve heard a hundred times and make it into something fresh.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

"There is nothing new under the sun compared to the previous editions," she said.

From BBC ● May 30, 2025

“Dead Man’s Switch,” an at times absorbing documentary, demonstrates there’s nothing new under the sun in terms of stealing, whether the cash is material or virtual.

From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2021

That’s not great news for WeWork, because it underscores that in real estate, there’s nothing new under the sun, or at least nothing that can’t be replicated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2019

That "there is nothing new under the sun," was the observation of a wise man in days of yore.

From Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton by Sir John Barrow