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

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

In other words, for investors and startups alike, SPACs present nothing new under the sun.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 14, 2021

There’s really nothing new under the sun about the basic building blocks of financial security, and the emergency fund is tried and true.

From Washington Post • Oct. 14, 2021

He said there was nothing new under the sun; that all things repeated themselves over and over again; that all wisdom had been spoken and every miracle performed ages and ages ago.

From In Both Worlds by Holcombe, William Henry