nothing burger
Much ado, zilch
A nothingburger is something that appears significant but turns out to be empty or inconsequential—all hype, no substance.
The term gained currency in political discourse, where scandals or revelations often fizzle: The investigation was a total nothingburger.
Sometimes spelled as two words or hyphenated.
- dudFailed device or effort
- flopComplete commercial failure
- insignificantLacking importance or consequence
- meaninglessLacking significance or purpose
- trivialLacking significance or weight
negligible · paper tiger · all talk · nonentity · minor · empty · smoke and mirrors · tempest in a teapot · nonexistence · dead end · hollow · empty calories · insubstantial · irrelevant · false alarm · unimportant · bland · small potatoes
significance/importance
nothing burgerbombshell
Shocking sudden revelation
smoking gun · blockbuster · game changer · watershed moment · turning point