# no skin off one's nose

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/no-skin-off-ones-nose
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

No harm to one.

## Examples

- It is no skin off my nose if you leave early.
- It is no skin off her nose if they decide to cancel the party.
- If you want to change the meeting time, go ahead; it is no skin off my nose.
- You can choose the blue paint for the kitchen instead of the green one; it is no skin off my nose since I rarely visit.
- The store manager said it was no skin off his nose if I returned the shoes, as long as I still had the original receipt.
- He insisted that the minor adjustments to the contract were no skin off his nose, provided the final deadline remained unchanged.

## Origin

The expression is attributed to the sport of boxing, where it denotes a blow of such negligible force that it fails to remove any skin from the nose of the recipient. The origin is cited in the Random House Dictionary of America's Popular Proverbs and Sayings: Second Edition Paperback, published in April 2000 by Gregory Titelman. It is further recorded by Christine Ammer in The American Heritage Dictionary Of Idioms, Second Edition Paperback, published in February 2013.

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