throughout
Americanpreposition
-
in or to every part of; everywhere in.
They searched throughout the house.
-
from the beginning to the end of.
He was bored throughout the play.
adverb
-
in every part.
rotten throughout.
-
at every moment or point.
following the text closely throughout.
preposition
adverb
Etymology
Origin of throughout
First recorded before 1000; Middle English throw out, Old English thurh ūt “through and out the other side (of )”; see through, out
Explanation
Use the adverb throughout for things that keep going from beginning to end. If you mention your perfect grades several times throughout a conversation, your interviewer will know you're smart, but might also think you're kind of obnoxious. Throughout means "from start to finish," although it doesn't have to mean constantly from start to finish. Your brother might complain that you had to stop and pee throughout the entire road trip, but he doesn't mean you were literally doing it the whole time, just like every two hours. In academic writing, throughout, or sometimes passim ("throughout" in Latin) is a way of saying that an idea shows up all over a book, not just on a certain page.
Vocabulary lists containing throughout
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade 11)
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"A Short History of the UDHR" and "Background on the UDHR"
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Louder than Hunger
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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.
Throughout the night, LACMA’s manager of gallery media, Mark Ayala, and two of his team members shifted the projectors left and right, getting the balance of imagery just right.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
Throughout the holy city, Iranian flags can be seen printed on white pilgrims' garments, cloaks, bags and buses.
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
Throughout the 2010s, DeepMind achieved a series of AI breakthroughs this way, and the lab continues to explore game-driven AI research today.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
Throughout, the novel hovers in an uncanny limbo.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Throughout the day, bids for new tracts steadily grew in value: ten thousand...fifty thousand...a hundred thousand….
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
