From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfor nothingfor nothinga) FREE/COST NOTHINGwithout paying for something or being paid for something Why pay a plumber when my brother will do it for nothing? b) FAILREASONif you do something for nothing, you make an effort but do not get the result you want We went all that way for nothing. → nothing
Examples from the Corpus
for nothing• I don't want to struggle all my life for nothing.• Nobody gets anything, for nothing.• Peres is to be blamed for nothing.• If we don't get the contract all our hard work will have been for nothing.• My dad said he'd fix it for nothing.• We drove all the way down there for nothing.• After all, it wasn't dubbed the Palace for nothing.• Ironically, later auf became a local expression for a long wait, or working for nothing.• We got the car for nothing because the woman wanted to get rid of it fast.• His mind was set on walking down his quarry and had room for nothing else.• Hell, his great-grandaddy used to work for nothing, for all that matter.• You can skate for nothing if you want.• What could be more stable than for nothing to change? 