never mind

idiomatic phrase

1

—used to tell someone not to be concerned about or give attention to something or someone

Never mind your mistake: it wasn't serious.

So you made a little mistake! Never mind (about that): it wasn't serious.

'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' said I. 'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. 'I should be able to look after that for you.'

—Arthur Conan Doyle

He would tell Blossom that she might go back to her aunt and never mind about him—he would do very well by himself and he did not blame her in the least.

—Lucy Maud Montgomery

2

—used to say that something previously mentioned or asked can be disregarded

Do you know where my keys are? Oh, never mind. Here they are.

3

—used to refer to something that is even less likely or possible than something else being mentioned or described

I can barely understand it, never mind explain it.

With this knee I can hardly walk, never mind run.

Never mind mastering a second language or a subject syllabus, most us have enough difficulty remembering the orders for a round of drinks at the pub.

—David Robson

Synonyms

• not to mention

Examples of never mind in a Sentence

I have a hard enough time getting out of bed before sunrise, never mind getting to work so early.

Recent Examples on the Web

Even on this small scale, getting on the ballot will be a tough task, never mind actually winning. —Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 11 July 2025

Google warns that more than half of users don’t even use two-factor authentication (2FA) yet, never mind passkeys, so there’s some serious ground to cover. —Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025

And never mind his mother getting shot at—the most memorable incident of his childhood occurred a few weeks before. —Charlie Lee, Harpers Magazine, 18 June 2025

Ride, by contrast, was a NASA astronaut and bona fide celebrity after her historic flight—a culture that was barely ready to welcome women astronauts, never mind one with a female partner. —ArsTechnica, 17 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for never mind

• countersigned
• disinclined
• humankind
• interlined
• intertwined
• mastermind
• misaligned
• nonaligned
• predefined
• realigned
• reassigned
• recombined