small potatoes

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small potatoes

Where it comes from

A specialization of a sense of potato meaning a thing of little value, and a comment on the low value of a small potato in particular, appearing in its modern form in North America in the mid-19th century (see 1855 quotation).

noun

idiomatic, plural, plural only One or more persons or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value. My paycheck is small potatoes compared to hers.
Similar: peanuts, small beer, small fry, nobody, no one

Opposite: some pumpkins

Thesaurus

noun

Opposite: some pumpkins

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MLA

"small potatoes." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/small%20potatoes. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

small potatoes. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/small%20potatoes

Chicago

"small potatoes." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/small%20potatoes.

BibTeX

@misc{small_potatoes_2026,
  title = {small potatoes},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/small%20potatoes},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}