Swedish adjective · adverb

idel

nothing but

idel as an adjective

Meaning

nothing but

In Swedish: bara, uteslutande

idel as an adverb

Meaning

nothing but, constant, just

Practise idel

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What does idel mean?

idel in a sentence

  • pjäsen möttes av idel lovord
    the play was universally praised
  • Det var idel nederlag
    It was nothing but defeats

Expressions

  • vara idel öra
    be all ears

Questions

What does idel mean in English?

idel means “nothing but”.

Origin

From Middle Low German idel (“empty, pure, vain”).

Nearby common words

idel is number 9,752 in our frequency list. These words come just before and after it.

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Sources: Folkets lexikon (CC BY-SA 2.5) and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), edited by Lingolib. Browse the dictionary