The small print is the conditions written where nobody reads them. Below the signature, in a size chosen for exactly that reason.
The phrase always implies that something disadvantageous is hidden there, and reading the small print is the standard advice nobody follows. British consumer law has pushed back, since unfair terms buried in a contract can be unenforceable and key facts must now be prominent. American English says fine print. The plain instruction is to read it before signing, not after.
1nounsmall printThe detailed conditions of a contract, printed inconspicuously.
“The charge was there in the small print all along.”
Practised in Shopping & Money, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 31 of A Man Called Ove.
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