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  • all-over
    all-over
    adjective
    covering the entire surface
  • all over
    all over

    Everywhere. The phrase may be used alone, as in I've looked all over for that book , or The very thought of poison ivy makes me itch all over . In addition it can be used as a preposition, meaning “throughout,” as in The news spread all over town . [Early 1600s] Also see far and wide .

Synonyms

all-over

British  

adjective

  1. covering the entire surface

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
all over Idioms  

  1. Everywhere. The phrase may be used alone, as in I've looked all over for that book , or The very thought of poison ivy makes me itch all over . In addition it can be used as a preposition, meaning “throughout,” as in The news spread all over town . [Early 1600s] Also see far and wide .

  2. In all respects, as in He is his Aunt Mary all over . Charles Lamb had this usage in a letter (1799) about a poem: “The last lines ... are Burns all over.” [Early 1700s]

  3. Also, all over again . Again from the beginning. For example, They're going to play the piece all over , or Do you mean you're starting all over again? [Mid-1500s]

  4. Also, all over with . Quite finished, completed, as in By the time I arrived the game was all over , or Now that she passed the test, her problems are all over with . This phrase uses over in the sense of “finished,” a usage dating from the 1300s. Also see all over but the shouting ; have it (all over) , def. 4.

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.

"All over Europe now it's very dangerous for us."

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026

"All over, we've had about a 15 percent increase in the gross revenue coming from the sheep running under the solar farm."

From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026

All over Northern Italy, organizers have unleashed a fleet of drones to capture athletes at close range while they execute terrifying feats of winter athleticism.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026

All over the world, millions of people have been doing something in private that’s now spilling into public spaces.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026

All over Levittown and the smaller, nearby communities that feed into Truman, it isn’t usually poverty I observe, but rather the steady, low-simmering tumult of economic and family instability.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

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.