eff all
British euphemistic way of saying 'absolutely nothing' — a polite swap-in for the stronger 'f*** all'.
Seen in the wild
Well, we’ve not had electricity since 5am and still waiting! Current predictions are 2am. Which I think means. They are doing eff all to fix it! Yay!
My daughter started on an antidepressant and it has made a world of difference. Kennedy can eff all the way off.
Definitions
British euphemistic way of saying 'absolutely nothing' — a polite swap-in for the stronger 'f*** all'. If someone did eff all today, they accomplished zero, zilch, nothing whatsoever. The 'eff' softens the explicit F-word just enough to deploy in mixed company or print without causing a scene. Widely used across the UK with varying degrees of irony and exasperation, often when complaining about laziness, empty results, or a total lack of effort.
We waited three hours and the council did eff all about the flooding.
Comments
(euphemistic, slang) fuck all.
“Well, we’ve not had electricity since 5am and still waiting! Current predictions are 2am. Which I think means. They are doing eff all to fix it! Yay!”
“Well, we’ve not had electricity since 5am and still waiting! Current predictions are 2am. Which I think means. They are doing eff all to fix it! Yay!”
— Bluesky· May 2026“My daughter started on an antidepressant and it has made a world of difference. Kennedy can eff all the way off.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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Semantically related
- naff all72%
(chiefly, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) Nothing (variant of fuck all).
- fuck all72%
(Commonwealth, UK, Irish, vulgar) Nothing at all or very little.
- dick all70%
A blunt, vulgar British and Canadian expression meaning absolutely nothing or next to nothing at all. Functionally equivalent to 'jack squat,' 'sweet FA,' or 'bugger all,' it emphasizes complete emptiness or absence — of money, effort, progress, or results. The directness is part of its appeal: when someone has done dick all, there's no softening that assessment. It carries both frustration and a certain resigned humor, especially when applied to oneself.
- shit all70%
(UK, Irish, Commonwealth, slang, vulgar) nothing at all or very little.