small beer

American  

noun

1. weak beer.

2. Chiefly British Slang. matters or persons of little or no importance.

---

small beer British  

noun

1. informal people or things of no importance

---

small beer Idioms  

1. Also, small potatoes. Of little importance, as in Don't listen to Henry; he's small beer, or It's silly to worry about that bill; it's small potatoes. The first term alludes to a beer of low alcoholic content (also called light beer today) and was used metaphorically by Shakespeare in several plays. The variant may have been invented by frontiersman Davy Crockett; it was first recorded in 1836. Also see small fry, def. 2.

---

Etymology

Origin of small beer

First recorded in 1560–70

Example Sentences

Incredibly, trial lawyers fought these small beer changes, which the Citizens Budget Commission estimates could save drivers some $200 a year.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

"But it's small beer in terms of the overall value of the project they are building and the profit that they will take out of that," he added.

From BBC • Jun. 23, 2023

At the blog Why Evolution is True, biostatistician Gregory Mayer described Farina and Gibbon's findings as "small beer."

From Salon • Feb. 22, 2022

In the midst of the multiple crises facing American higher education, tweaking tenure review and campus public relations may sound like small beer.

From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2021

I avoid looking at the small beer belly that’s grown on him, though I’m aware of it, of the changes in his body, as he must be of mine.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood