Jump To:

• across-the-board
  across-the-board

  adjective

  applying to all employees, members, groups, or categories; general.
• across the board
  across the board

  Applying to all the individuals in a group, as in They promised us an across-the-board tax cut, that is, one applying to all taxpayers, regardless of income. This expression comes from horse racing, where it refers to a bet that covers all possible ways of winning money on a race: win (first), place (second), or show (third). The board here is the notice-board on which the races and betting odds are listed. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

across-the-board

American  

[uh-kraws-thuh-bawrd, -bohrd, uh-kros-] / əˈkrɔs ðəˈbɔrd, -ˈboʊrd, əˈkrɒs- /

adjective

1. applying to all employees, members, groups, or categories; general.

   The across-the-board pay increase means a raise for all employees.

2. (of a bet) covering all possibilities of winning on a given result, especially by placing a combination bet on one horse in a race for win, place, and show.

---

across-the-board British  

adjective

1. (of salary increases, taxation cuts, etc) affecting all levels or classes equally

2. horse racing the US term for each way

---

across the board Idioms  

1. Applying to all the individuals in a group, as in They promised us an across-the-board tax cut, that is, one applying to all taxpayers, regardless of income. This expression comes from horse racing, where it refers to a bet that covers all possible ways of winning money on a race: win (first), place (second), or show (third). The board here is the notice-board on which the races and betting odds are listed. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

---

Etymology

Origin of across-the-board

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

Space stocks across the board are getting punished.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 26, 2026

"So we're getting rid of that variability by making something that's across the board recognisable by your immune system that should cover you from all these eventualities ... a real big paradigm change," he said.

From Barron's • Jun. 25, 2026

That standard should apply across the board, and it begins with independent audits: test sets built not from sanitized benchmarks but from questions people actually ask.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026

WSJLI: So is the hope that you are shifting the culture and injecting Oatly into drink culture in these bigger markets, then having that bleed into the consumer mindset across the board?

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 16, 2026

Spassky concealed a black pawn and a white pawn behind his back in the time-honored fashion and then brought his closed hands forward across the board.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

• sweeping