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.
"It was immense, I've never seen anything like it," says Izquierdo, whose family have been farming here for 200 years.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Did the keepers of Christie’s legacy object to anything in your manuscript?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
“I don’t know if Meta’s A.I. decided to wake up and be like, ‘We don’t like you,’ but anything trans-related feels targeted today,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
She was shocked — she’d been receiving the same monthly benefit for years and had no idea anything was wrong.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
No one would ever expect anything bad from him or think anything wrong about him, for he was an honorable man, a perfect gentleman.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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.
