know-all

American

[noh-awl] / ˈnoʊˌɔl /

noun

Informal.

a know-it-all.

know-all British

noun

informal a person who pretends or appears to know a great deal

"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

Etymology

Origin of know-all

First recorded in 1880–85

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.

Tobin was Tiffany’s manager, and an almost hilariously cliched one: a dominant, abrasive, controlling know-all.

From The Guardian • Apr. 12, 2020

Steering away from the competitive tendencies of know-all musos, like those memorably sent up in Nick Hornby's 1995 novel High Fidelity, Fitzgerald wanted the club to concentrate on getting personal reactions to much-loved LPs.

From BBC • Oct. 20, 2017

This wasn't Fry the all-purpose TV know-all; this was Fry the moral relativist, a person like the rest of us who goes through life not always certain he has made the right decisions.

From The Guardian • May 26, 2010

Austrian-born Dr. Karl von Frisch of the University of Munich is widely icgarded as the know-all of the bee-alls.

From Time Magazine Archive

In short, we are unattractive know-all obsessives who get things out of proportion and are in continual peril of being disowned by our exasperated families.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023