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A Drop in the Bucket


The phrase 'A Drop in the Bucket' refers to a very small or unimportant amount.

Example of Use: "What we were paid for our work was a drop in the bucket compared to what the company earned."


Interesting fact about A Drop in the Bucket

Like so many popular phrases and expressions, the origin of the idiom 'a drop in the bucket' can be found in the Bible. This saying can be found in Isaiah 40:15 as: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of the bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.” Interestingly, the idiom 'a drop in the bucket' precedes a related idiom, 'a drop in the ocean,' which is first seen in print in a July 1802 piece written in The Edinburgh Weekly Journal: “The votes for the appointment of Bonaparte to be Chief Consul for life are like a drop in the ocean compared with the aggregate of the population of France.”