"all things to all people" meaning in English

See all things to all people in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-all things to all people.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: From Holy Bible (King James Version), 1 Corinthians 9:22: "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Head templates: {{head|en|noun|head=all things to all people}} all things to all people
  1. (idiomatic, often construed as singular) Someone or something that entirely satisfies the expectations of everyone, no matter how diverse and conflicting those expectations may be. Tags: construed as singular, idiomatic, often Synonyms: all things to all men Related terms: people pleaser
    Sense id: en-all_things_to_all_people-en-noun-PZ6wdfz9

Download JSON data for all things to all people meaning in English (2.9kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From Holy Bible (King James Version), 1 Corinthians 9:22: \"To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "all things to all people"
      },
      "expansion": "all things to all people",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1851, Sir John William Kaye, History of the War in Afghanistan, Volume 2, page 382",
          "text": "It was obviously his policy to appear all things to all people. He could not venture to take any decided course.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Barbara J. Horn, M.S.N.Ed., Aequanimitas, University of Michigan Medical School, p. 170 (Google preview)",
          "text": "No longer can we be all things to all people! We must decide which path to follow — are we to be physicians assistants, coordinators, supervisors, or skilled practitioners of nursing. The choice is ours!"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990 April 9, Paul Gray, “Grapevine: Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki”, in Time, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "Most Poles realize that Solidarity cannot go on being all things to all people: trade union, political party, shaper of the country's future.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995 January 29, Todd S. Purdum, “The Nation: Underwear and All; Dignifying the Presidency”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "Mr. Clinton is often accused of wanting to be all things to all people, but that is a classic occupational hazard of his job.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 February 26, Joanna Moorhead, “Why not leave school at 16?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "\"There's also a problem about schools being expected to be all things to all people.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that entirely satisfies the expectations of everyone, no matter how diverse and conflicting those expectations may be."
      ],
      "id": "en-all_things_to_all_people-en-noun-PZ6wdfz9",
      "links": [
        [
          "satisfies",
          "satisfy"
        ],
        [
          "expectation",
          "expectation"
        ],
        [
          "diverse",
          "diverse"
        ],
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often construed as singular) Someone or something that entirely satisfies the expectations of everyone, no matter how diverse and conflicting those expectations may be."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "people pleaser"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "all things to all men"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "construed as singular",
        "idiomatic",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-all things to all people.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e0/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "all things to all people"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From Holy Bible (King James Version), 1 Corinthians 9:22: \"To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "all things to all people"
      },
      "expansion": "all things to all people",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "people pleaser"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1851, Sir John William Kaye, History of the War in Afghanistan, Volume 2, page 382",
          "text": "It was obviously his policy to appear all things to all people. He could not venture to take any decided course.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1967, Barbara J. Horn, M.S.N.Ed., Aequanimitas, University of Michigan Medical School, p. 170 (Google preview)",
          "text": "No longer can we be all things to all people! We must decide which path to follow — are we to be physicians assistants, coordinators, supervisors, or skilled practitioners of nursing. The choice is ours!"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990 April 9, Paul Gray, “Grapevine: Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki”, in Time, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "Most Poles realize that Solidarity cannot go on being all things to all people: trade union, political party, shaper of the country's future.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995 January 29, Todd S. Purdum, “The Nation: Underwear and All; Dignifying the Presidency”, in New York Times, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "Mr. Clinton is often accused of wanting to be all things to all people, but that is a classic occupational hazard of his job.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 February 26, Joanna Moorhead, “Why not leave school at 16?”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2017-02-21",
          "text": "\"There's also a problem about schools being expected to be all things to all people.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that entirely satisfies the expectations of everyone, no matter how diverse and conflicting those expectations may be."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "satisfies",
          "satisfy"
        ],
        [
          "expectation",
          "expectation"
        ],
        [
          "diverse",
          "diverse"
        ],
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often construed as singular) Someone or something that entirely satisfies the expectations of everyone, no matter how diverse and conflicting those expectations may be."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "all things to all men"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "construed as singular",
        "idiomatic",
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-all things to all people.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e0/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/En-au-all_things_to_all_people.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "all things to all people"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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