anything
Americanpronoun
noun
adverb
idioms
-
anything goes, any type of conduct, dress, speech, etc., is considered acceptable or valid or is likely to be encountered and tolerated.
That resort is a place where anything goes!
-
anything but, in no degree or respect; not in the least.
The plans were anything but definite.
pronoun
noun
adverb
-
in any way
he wasn't anything like his father
-
by no means; not in the least
she was anything but happy
-
(intensifier; usually euphemistic)
he ran like anything
Etymology
Origin of anything
before 900; Middle English ani thing, eni thing, Old English ǣnig thing. See any, thing 1
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.
Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are particles from space that slam into Earth with energies far beyond anything produced by human-built particle accelerators.
From Science Daily • Jun. 9, 2026
Some online retailers may hesitate to tell customers when an item is in low supply, fearing it might encourage them to shop elsewhere or discourage them from buying anything else on the site.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
He’s just bracingly honest and notoriously wobbly when asked to verbalize the significance of everything and anything — from his poetically dense lyricism to the whole of his revered music career.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
Gunn is the current favourite, but if the past two decades have told us anything about Gordon it's that you write him off at your peril.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
But an epileptic seizure is only a symptom; the cause can be anything from a tumor, to an inherited genetic disposition to seizures, to a blow to the head.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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.
