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Small beer dates from Shakespeare's day. The Bard didn't coin it (the word has been in use since the 15th century, well before Shakespeare was born), but he did put the term to good use. In Henry VI, Part 2, for example, the rebel Jack Cade declares that, when he becomes king, he will "make it felony to drink small beer." In Othello, Desdemona asks Iago to describe a "deserving woman." Iago responds by listing praises for ten lines, only to conclude that such a woman would be suited "to suckle fools, and chronicle small beer"; in other words, to raise babies and keep track of insignificant household expenses. Desdemona quickly retorts, declaring Iago's assertion a "most lame and impotent conclusion."
Examples of small beer in a Sentence
Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2025
This was, to Biden’s critics on the left, small beer.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 11 Feb. 2025
To merely denounce the war, or to call for the end of American military support for Israel, would have been small beer.
—Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2025
That covers even things like withholding taxes and the administration of those, which sometimes might seem like relatively small beer, but often for some of our members, significant amounts of money.
—Tax Notes Staff, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for small beer
Cite this Entry
“Small beer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/small%20beer. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
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