same difference

Idioms and Phrases

No difference at all, the same thing, as in She's my sister, or stepsister—same difference . This jocular colloquial phrase dates from about 1940.

Example Sentences

They found the same difference in shape between Earth lakes known to have been eroded by waves and lakes affected by uniform erosion, such as dissolving limestone.

From Science Daily

“You call it rent, I call it compensation. Same difference.”

From Slate

Ayla’s adopted father, the Clan’s holy man, sees the same difference, but with sorrow and love: “He could make no quantum leaps, no intuitive strokes of genius. His mind, he knew, was more powerful than hers by far; more intelligent perhaps. But his genius was of a different nature. … In her, he sensed the youth, the vitality of a newer form.”

From Slate

“Same difference in the end,” says Agent Fiona.

From Literature

Back in 2007 brother and sister duo Same Difference made it to that year's X Factor final.

From BBC

Related Words

• commensurate
• comparable
• corresponding
• equal
• identical
• proportionate
• tantamount