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Synonyms

all over but the shouting

Idioms  

  1. The outcome is a certainty, as in When Jim hit the ball over the fence, it was all over but the shouting. The term's first use in print, in 1842, was by Welsh sportswriter Charles James Apperley, but some authorities believe it originated even earlier in the United States for a close political race. Today it is applied to any contest. A common British version is all over bar the shouting.

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.

By the time you read this, it may be all over but the shouting or we may have already embarked on yet another House GOP spectacle as they struggle to cobble together a majority to elect someone to the most powerful job in the House of Representatives — again.

From Salon

Looks like it’s all over but the shouting.

From Slate

When Justice Anthony Kennedy cynically retired the next year so that the Republicans could solidify their hard core majority by installing a political hack by the name of Brett Kavanaugh, it was all over but the shouting.

From Salon

With much of the state and nation having already voted, it feels like Election 2020 is all over but the shouting.

From Seattle Times

And at that point, it was all over but the shouting.

From Washington Post

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.