Join Us On

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

Thesaurus

Medical

Scrabble^®

Spanish Central

Browse Dictionary Browse Thesaurus

Get our free apps!iPhone•iPad•Android

Dictionary

¹all

adjective \ˈȯl\

: the whole, entire, total amount, quantity, or extent of

: every member or part of

: the whole number or sum of

Full Definition of ALL

a : the whole amount, quantity, or extent of <needed all the courage they had> <sat up all night>

b : as much as possible <spoke in all seriousness>

: every member or individual component of <all men will go> <all five children were present>

: the whole number or sum of <all the angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles>

: every <all manner of hardship>

: any whatever <beyond all doubt>

: nothing but : only:

a : completely taken up with, given to, or absorbed by <became all attention>

b : having or seeming to have (some physical feature) in conspicuous excess or prominence <all legs>

c : paying full attention with <all ears>

dial : used up : entirely consumed —used especially of food and drink

: being more than one person or thing <who all is coming>

— all the

: as much of … as : as much of a … as <all the home I ever had>

See all defined for English-language learners

See all defined for kids

Origin of ALL

Middle English all, al, from Old English eall; akin to Old High German all all

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to ALL

Synonyms: whole, concentrated, entire, exclusive, focused (also focussed), undivided

Antonyms: diffuse, divided, scattered

Synonym Discussion of ALL

whole, entire, total, all mean including everything or everyone without exception. whole implies that nothing has been omitted, ignored, abated, or taken away <read the whole book>. entire may suggest a state of completeness or perfection to which nothing can be added <the entire population was wiped out>. total implies that everything has been counted, weighed, measured, or considered <the total number of people present>. all may equal whole, entire, or total <all proceeds go to charity>.

Rhymes with ALL

awl, ball, bawl, brawl, call, caul, crawl, doll, drawl, fall, gall, hall, haul, kraal, mall, maul, moll, pall, pawl, Saul, scall, scrawl, shawl, small, spall, sprawl, squall, stall, tall, thrall, trawl, wall, yawl

²all

adverb

: entirely or completely

: for each side or player

Full Definition of ALL

a : wholly, quite <sat all alone> —often used as an intensive <all out of proportion> <all over the yard> <it wasn't all that funny>

b : selected as the best (as at a sport) within an area or organization —used in combination <all-league halfback>

obsolete : only, exclusively

archaic : just

: so much <all the better for it>

: for each side : apiece <the score is two all>

See all defined for English-language learners

First Known Use of ALL

before 12th century

Related to ALL

Synonyms: fully, all of, all over, altogether, clean, completely, dead, enough, entire, entirely, even, exactly, fast, flat, full, heartily, out, perfectly, plumb [chiefly dialect], quite, soundly, thoroughly, through and through, totally, utterly, well, wholly, wide

Antonyms: half, halfway, incompletely, part, partially, partly

³all

pronoun, singular or plural in construction

Definition of ALL

a : the whole number, quantity, or amount : totality <all that I have> <all of us> <all of the books>

b —used in such phrases as for all I know, for all I care, and for all the good it does to indicate a lack of knowledge, interest, or effectiveness

: everybody, everything <gave equal attention to all> <that is all>

— all in all

: on the whole : generally <all in all, things might have been worse>

— and all

: and everything else especially of a kind suggested by a previous context <cards to fill out with … numbers and all — Sally Quinn>