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to speak of. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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to speak of in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Phrase
to speak of
- (idiomatic, usually negative) Sufficient; important or significant enough to be worth mentioning.
not enough to speak of
no [X] to speak of
Q: How many people heeded the advice to bring an umbrella? A: Not enough to speak of.
There was no air conditioning to speak of. [ = There was some, but it was wholly inadequate.]
1792, Jean François Marmontel, C. Dennis, Robert Lloyd, Moral Tales By M. Marmontel Translated From the French by C. Dennis and R. Lloyd, page 130:While he spoke thus, the good man leaped with joy; and as he was a widower, they advised him to put himself agian to the ranks. 'No raillery,' said he, 'if I were always as young, I might yet do something to speak of.
1980, Charlotte Vale Allen, Promises, page 79:There were no tall buildings to speak of, certainly nothing in the way of skyscrapers, no brownstones […]
2013, Stephen Dixon, 30 Pieces of a Novel, →ISBN:But some have no parents, or none to speak of, and are living with a grandmother or uncle or married sister or sister who's not married but has three tots of her own to look after, or this unruly student's helping her to take care of them with babysitting or a paying after-school job.
2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:Completely disorientated by the explosion of dust, it was only now she realised she was running through Tina’s flat. It was even grottier than Zoe’s. There was no furniture or carpet to speak of.
Translations