much of a muchness

• much for muchness

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much of a muchness

1. (idiomatic) Of two or more things, having little difference of any significance between them.
   • 1819, The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, Etc, page 683:

     As to any existing dearth of materials for comedy, I hold it to be merely imaginary; for I believe that on a fair comparison, the manners and morals of the present age and those of the past, would prove much of a muchness.

   • 1850, James Fenimore Cooper, “The Ways of the Hour”, in Precaution / The Ways of the Hour, facsimile edition, published 2010, page 30:

     “He was not,” answered a juror. “Old Peter Goodwin could not have been more than five feet five, and Dorothy was all of that, I should think. When they came to meeting together, they looked much of a muchness.”

   • 1926 October 2, “Chats with Office Callers”, in Henry Ford, W. J. Cameron, editors, Dearborn Independent Magazine October 1925-December 1926, page 28:

     In fact, he said, in spite of all efforts to lift the popular taste, things were much of a muchness with the old days when in popular novels the villain, had to be foiled, the hero had to triumph and the lovers had to be united.

   • c. 1931, Virginia Woolf, “Portrait of a Londoner”, in The London Scene, published 2004, page 75:

     Private houses in London are apt to be much of a muchness. The door opens on a dark hall; from the dark hall rises a narrow staircase; off the landing opens a double drawing-room, and in this double drawing-room are two sofas on each side of a blazing fire, six armchairs, and three long windows giving upon the street.

   • 1987 March 30, John Simon, “Theater: Railway Disaster”, in New York, page 97:

     The songs are much of a muchness (or littleness), all sounding forgettably alike.

   • 2000, Patrick Whitefield, How To Make A Forest Garden, Permanent Publications, UK, page 13:

     There are small trees and large shrubs which are much of a muchness, and it may not be possible to say whether an individual plant is a tall member of the shrub layer or a short tree.

   • 2000, Steve Bruce, Sociology: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, page 80:

     There were many legislative and political battles to be fought before the fundamental idea that all people were much of a muchness was translated into a culture of equal rights for all, but gradually rights were extended from landowners, to rich men, to not so rich men, to all men, and then to women.

   • 2019 October 6, Funmi Fetto, “Smoky eyes get a contemporary colour revamp”, in The Guardian‎:

     The majority are much of a muchness so, unless you are desperately trying to find a way to waste money, I’d rarely venture into high double digits.

• distinction without a difference
• same difference
• six of one, half a dozen of the other