no great shakes

Idioms and Phrases

Nothing out of the ordinary, mediocre, as in I'm afraid the new pitcher is no great shakes , or What I did with this decorating project was no great shakes . This term possibly alludes to the shaking of dice, which most often yields a mediocre result, but there is no evidence to support this theory. [Early 1800s]

Example Sentences

Its overall handling of mental illness is no great shakes either.

From Los Angeles Times

Their two previous quarterfinal duels at Roland Garros were actually no great shakes.

From New York Times

A third of the way in, we’ve already seen Kong use sign language, shower and scratch himself; Godzilla lay waste to a swath of Pensacola, Fla.; and the two wage a slugfest at sea, with Godzilla’s tail slicing through ships and Kong, no great shakes as a swimmer, struggling mightily out of his element.

From New York Times

It could be described as no great shakes.

From Washington Post

We do know that close-ups on nibbled waterlogged corpses are no great shakes these days, and we encounter them in the premiere of "Clarice" . . . but not before flashbacks showing Buffalo Bill sewing what is supposed to be the lotioned skin of his victims.

From Salon

Related Words

• common
• conventional
• dull
• generic
• humble
• mediocre
• normal
• plain
• simple
• unremarkable
• workaday