all-or-nothing
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of all-or-nothing
First recorded in 1755–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As secretary of state, Dulles kept the U.S. out of major wars and came to recognize the danger of an all-or-nothing approach to nuclear weapons.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
But the United States is deploying a blunt, all-or-nothing approach.
From Slate • Feb. 13, 2026
“Get used to, on some of these hard days, selling out a little bit of your positions. I think people look at it like it’s an all-or-nothing proposition,” Kailas said.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 7, 2025
She added that the exam system should allow pupils to build up credits, rather than the current all-or-nothing approach.
From BBC • Aug. 21, 2025
And the process was an all-or-nothing one; either you failed to modify at all, or else you modified the whole way.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
