all-over
adjective
covering the entire surface
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all-over
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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 .
all-over
Britishadjective
all over
Idioms
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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 .
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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]
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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]
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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.
See Examples For:
But this is Image Magazine, so I will fearlessly match our readers’ freak and suggest this wild set from Brain Dead with a trippy pseudo-camo all-over print.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
He told me the all-over skin laser treatment he's been having has reduced his skin age by 22 years, the greatest age reduction in any part of his body.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2023
It's the perfect, just-set icing on top of pastries, cookies, and cakes at your favorite bakeries — perhaps most identified as the all-over glaze atop petit fours.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2021
Rather than the all-over, canvas-filling brush strokes favored by other abstract painters, Mitchell’s works were looser, gathered away from the edges.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
Her neck and wrists were bare, and her hair was a mess—a pile, an all-over glob of red curls.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
Meta’s AI strategy, moreover, has been all over the place, marked by technical missteps and delays, frequent reorganizations and leadership changes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The impact of that stance could be profound, way beyond some admirably shiny No 10 signs emblazoned all over one floor of a government building in Manchester.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
In the wake of their DNA test results, the family was all over the media.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Liuzzo family was harassed for their mother’s activism even after her death, but the event galvanized activists all over the country, becoming one impetus for Congress to finally pass the landmark 1965 legislation.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
The question makes me feel sick all over again.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
