papel mojado

Spanish

Etymology

Literally, “wet paper”.

Noun

papel mojado

1. (idiomatic) something useless, something that has no authority, lip service, "not worth the paper it's written on"

   Su palabra es papel mojado.

   Those are just empty words.

2. (idiomatic) dead letter (document that no longer has authority)

See also

• hacer brindis al sol

Further reading

• “papel mojado”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28