noun
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the ninth letter in the Greek alphabet (Ι, ι), a vowel or semivowel, transliterated as i or j
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(usually used with a negative) a very small amount; jot (esp in the phrase not one or an iota )
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of iota
1600–10; < Latin iōta < Greek iôta < Semitic; compare Hebrew yōdh yod
Explanation
If you don't care one iota about something, it means you don’t care about it even one little bit. An iota is something very small. An iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet. The expression "not one iota" comes from the Bible (Matthew 5:18): "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished."
Vocabulary lists containing iota
To Kill a Mockingbird
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 20–25
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Words You Need to See in the Wild
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Really, we’re just watching McKellen give a bravura, scene-gobbling performance that doesn’t hold back one iota.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Not an iota of care for Mathew Shurka, “an amicus who received conversion therapy as a child,” who is a living example of the unbearable price paid for framing talk therapy as nothing but speech.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2026
Perhaps most painful among the nurses’ many miseries is their isolation: the secrets they keep in hopes of sparing their loved ones an iota of extra suffering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
The jokes in “Happy Gilmore 2” don’t require a single iota of thought, only a death-grip on nostalgia.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2025
I had clung to them, to Rass, yes, even to my grandmother, afraid that if I loosened my fingers an iota, I would find myself once more cold and clean in a forgotten basket.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
"We are just one iota among countless iotas in the universe," Drake insists.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here & there, they admit, among Vogt's errors, prejudices, mysticism and reckless appeals to emotion, they can find iotas of truth-but not many.
From Time Magazine Archive
At random moments when Kopit tosses his thinking cap away for vaudeville, the play generates iotas of fun.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Tompsett-King deprecated all dottings of iotas; when Philippa stormed at society he hummed a sad little tune.
From Rest Harrow A Comedy of Resolution by Hewlett, Maurice Henry
Thus it is that in the Word Divine things and arcana of heaven are contained even in its iotas, points and tittles.
From Heaven and its Wonders and Hell by Ager, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
