- (used with plural nouns. The noun may have the, this, that, my, her, his, etc. in front of it, or a number.) the whole number of
- All horses are animals, but not all animals are horses.
- Cars were coming from all directions (= every direction).
- All the people you invited are coming.
- All my plants have died.
- All five of them are hard workers.
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- (used with uncountable nouns. The noun may have the, this, that, my, her, his, etc. in front of it.) the whole amount of
- All wood tends to shrink.
- You've had all the fun and I've had all the hard work.
- All this mail must be answered.
- He has lost all his money.
- used with singular nouns showing something has been happening for a whole period of time
- They have worked hard all year.
- She was unemployed for all that time.
- the greatest possible
- In all honesty (= being as honest as I can), I can't agree.
- consisting or appearing to consist of one thing only
- The magazine was all advertisements.
- She was all smiles (= smiling a lot).
- any whatever
- He denied all knowledge of the crime.
Word OriginOld English all, eall, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch al and German all.
Idioms
See all in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee all in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishand all that (jazz, rubbish, stuff, etc.)
- (informal) and other similar things
- I'm bored by history—dates and battles and all that stuff.
for all
- despite
- For all its clarity of style, the book is not easy reading.
- used to say that something is not important or of no interest or value to you/somebody
- For all I know she's still living in Boston.
- You can do what you like, for all I care.
- For all the good it's done we might as well not have bothered.
not all that good, well, etc.
- not particularly good, well, etc.
- He doesn't sing all that well.
not as bad(ly), etc. as all that
- not as much as has been suggested
- They're not as rich as all that.
- We didn't play particularly well, but we didn't do as badly as all that.
of all the…
- (informal) used to express anger
- I've locked myself out. Of all the stupid things to do!
of all people, things, etc.
- (informal) used to express surprise because somebody/something seems the least likely person, example, etc.
- I didn't think you, of all people, would become a vegetarian.
on/from all sides | on/from every side
- in or from all directions; everywhere
- We realized we were surrounded on all sides.
- Disaster threatens on every side.
- She was bombarded with questions from all sides.
Check pronunciation:
all