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
To make matters even more difficult, Hulls, a painter, adventurer and itinerant jack-of-all-trades, was not really a writer.
From New York Times • Mar. 1, 2024
“I was actually calling myself a jack-of-all-trades for a long time,” he continues.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2024
They join a lineup featuring jack-of-all-trades Dominic Fike, pop-punk darling WILLOW, alternative/indie rock artist Alex G., post-rock band Explosions in the Sky and Yaeji, who blends hip-hop, house and more in English and Korean lyrics.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023
Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
