jack-of-all-trades
noun
a person who is adept at many different kinds of work.
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jack-of-all-trades
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jack of all trades
jack of all tradesnouna person who undertakes many different kinds of work
jack-of-all-trades
American
[jak-uhv-awl-treydz, jak-]
/ ˌdʒæk əvˈɔlˈtreɪdz, ˈdʒæk- /
noun
plural
jacks-of-all-trades
jack of all trades
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of jack-of-all-trades
First recorded in 1610–20
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.
He could start by cutting the animated sequence in which Mary, her young charges and Bert, a local jack-of-all-trades, jump into one of Bert’s sidewalk chalk paintings.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
Matthew Modine, who acted in “Full Metal Jacket,” remembers perceiving Vitali as kind of an “Igor” figure, a jack-of-all-trades.
From New York Times • Nov. 29, 2024
Maurice Sr. was both jack-of-all-trades and working-class Renaissance man, for a time alternating roles as nightclub bouncer and drum-playing orchestra leader, Nurse said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2024
Daniels is generally considered more of a mid-round pick and could serve as a jack-of-all-trades depth piece in the immediate with room to grow.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 17, 2023
Alf was a jack-of-all-trades, carpenter, tinsmith, blacksmith, electrician, plasterer, scissors grinder, and cobbler.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
