small wonder

• little wonder, no wonder, tiny wonder

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small wonder (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) An event or fact whose cause or rationale is not difficult to discern; an unsurprising occurrence.
   • 1891, F. Marion Crawford, chapter 24, in The Witch of Prague:

     Small wonder if he had loved her for herself, she was so beautiful.

   • 1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:

     Small wonder that I am restless. I think, and think, and I cannot cease from thinking.

   • 1910, Rabindranath Tagore, The King of the Dark Chamber, Scene 1:

     Small wonder that you can't believe my words—you who think yourself sage enough to reject the opinions of your parents and superiors.

   • 1929, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 2, in Monster Men:

     That she was beautiful and intelligent could not be denied, and so it was small wonder that she might appeal strongly to any man.

   • 2004 August 16, Jeremy Caplan, “What's Cool In the Pool”, in Time:

     Small wonder the average cost of new pools has leaped past $30,000.

   • 2024 January 10, 'Industry Insider', “Success built on liberalisation and market freedom”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 69:

     In retrospect, it was small wonder that Railtrack found its finances under pressure, as with ever increasing demand there was an inevitable effect on infrastructure renewals. Matters came to a head with the Hatfield accident on October 17 2000, when there was a high-speed derailment as a result of deferred track maintenance.

• Often used as an abbreviated form of the construction "It is small wonder that", as in:

• 1904, Frank Norris, chapter 6, in A Man's Woman:

Small wonder he was excited when the life of his dearest friend was threatened.

• “small wonder”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.