jack-of-all-trades

[jak-uhv-awl-treydz, jak-]

noun

plural

jacks-of-all-trades 

1. a person who is adept at many different kinds of work.

jack of all trades

noun

1. a person who undertakes many different kinds of work

Word History and Origins

Origin of jack-of-all-trades¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

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.

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He eventually ended up in Florida, where he became a jack-of-all-trades carny and developed a sharp instinct for advance publicity and promotion.

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Matthew Modine, who acted in “Full Metal Jacket,” remembers perceiving Vitali as kind of an “Igor” figure, a jack-of-all-trades.

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With the co-production between Latvia, France and Belgium, Zilbalodis went from being a jack-of-all-trades to forming his own production company — thereby mirroring the loner cat’s sudden need to work in a team environment.

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During his decade-long stint at WKYC, Edwards worked as a “graphics guru, camera operator, and general jack-of-all-trades,” the station said, “yet it was a somewhat random opportunity in 1989 that earned him international fame.”

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