"leave no stone unturned" meaning in English

See leave no stone unturned in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-leave no stone unturned.ogg [Australia] Forms: leaves no stone unturned [present, singular, third-person], leaving no stone unturned [participle, present], left no stone unturned [participle, past], left no stone unturned [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|leave<,,left> no stone unturned}} leave no stone unturned (third-person singular simple present leaves no stone unturned, present participle leaving no stone unturned, simple past and past participle left no stone unturned)
  1. (idiomatic) To search or investigate thoroughly. Tags: idiomatic Translations (search thoroughly): onder de loep nemen (Dutch), etsiä läpikotaisin (Finnish), ei jättää yhtään kiveä kääntämättä (Finnish), unter die Lupe nehmen (German), tűvé tesz (Hungarian), fínkemba (Icelandic), scag go mion (Irish), poruszyć niebo i ziemię [perfective] (Polish), обива́ть все поро́ги (obivátʹ vse porógi) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-leave_no_stone_unturned-en-verb-rNspKI-i Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English positive polarity items, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 51 49 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 50 50 Disambiguation of English positive polarity items: 53 47 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 51 49 Disambiguation of 'search thoroughly': 63 37
  2. (figuratively) To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step. Tags: figuratively Translations (perform a task thoroughly): tehdä kaikkensa (Finnish), tehdä läpikotaisin (Finnish), ei jätä yhtään kiveä kääntämättä (Finnish), minden követ megmozgat (Hungarian), poruszyć niebo i ziemię [perfective] (Polish), ка́мня на ка́мне не оста́вить (kámnja na kámne ne ostávitʹ) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-leave_no_stone_unturned-en-verb-Up9zARkv Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English positive polarity items, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 51 49 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 50 50 Disambiguation of English positive polarity items: 53 47 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 51 49 Disambiguation of 'perform a task thoroughly': 35 65
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: spare no effort

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for leave no stone unturned meaning in English (7.2kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leaves no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leaving no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "leave<,,left> no stone unturned"
      },
      "expansion": "leave no stone unturned (third-person singular simple present leaves no stone unturned, present participle leaving no stone unturned, simple past and past participle left no stone unturned)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47",
      "word": "spare no effort"
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  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 August 25, Tassanee Vejpongsa, “Video sparks arrest of Thai police in drug suspect's death”, in The Washington Post, retrieved 2021-08-26",
          "text": "“This case of police torture and murder is shocking. But this is not the first case and it is unlikely to be the last case until and unless the police conduct serious interrogations and investigations and leave no stones unturned,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, page 30",
          "text": "We have a lead inspector who has a global overview of the investigation and will have site handback in mind, although we won't leave any stone unturned.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To search or investigate thoroughly."
      ],
      "id": "en-leave_no_stone_unturned-en-verb-rNspKI-i",
      "links": [
        [
          "search",
          "search"
        ],
        [
          "investigate",
          "investigate"
        ],
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          "thoroughly",
          "thoroughly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To search or investigate thoroughly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "onder de loep nemen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "etsiä läpikotaisin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "ei jättää yhtään kiveä kääntämättä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "unter die Lupe nehmen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "tűvé tesz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "fínkemba"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "scag go mion"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "poruszyć niebo i ziemię"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "63 37",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "obivátʹ vse porógi",
          "sense": "search thoroughly",
          "word": "обива́ть все поро́ги"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
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          "_dis": "51 49",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 297",
          "text": "We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our intent.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Richard Nixon, “The Awakened Giant”, in 1999: Victory Without War, Simon and Schuster, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258",
          "text": "But we must make it clear that in building our friendship with the Chinese on the mainland we will not sacrifice our Chinese friends on Taiwan. Julian Amery put the issue eloquently: \"It is often necessary and legitimate to abandon causes long supported and to dissolve pledged bonds of alliance. But it is always wrong to abandon men who have been friends to their fate. We may have to jettison their interests but we should leave no stone unturned to save at least their lives.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 March 11, “Australia cancel tour of Pakistan”, in The Guardian, retrieved 2013-05-02",
          "text": "James Sutherland insists Australia had \"no alternative\" but to cancel the tour. \"We have left no stone unturned in trying to ensure the tour could proceed as planned but at the end of the day the safety and security of our employees must come first.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step."
      ],
      "id": "en-leave_no_stone_unturned-en-verb-Up9zARkv",
      "links": [
        [
          "task",
          "task"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "word": "tehdä kaikkensa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "word": "tehdä läpikotaisin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "word": "ei jätä yhtään kiveä kääntämättä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "word": "minden követ megmozgat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "poruszyć niebo i ziemię"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "35 65",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "kámnja na kámne ne ostávitʹ",
          "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
          "word": "ка́мня на ка́мне не оста́вить"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-leave no stone unturned.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e2/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "leave no stone unturned"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English idioms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English positive polarity items",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leaves no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leaving no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left no stone unturned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "leave<,,left> no stone unturned"
      },
      "expansion": "leave no stone unturned (third-person singular simple present leaves no stone unturned, present participle leaving no stone unturned, simple past and past participle left no stone unturned)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "spare no effort"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 August 25, Tassanee Vejpongsa, “Video sparks arrest of Thai police in drug suspect's death”, in The Washington Post, retrieved 2021-08-26",
          "text": "“This case of police torture and murder is shocking. But this is not the first case and it is unlikely to be the last case until and unless the police conduct serious interrogations and investigations and leave no stones unturned,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, page 30",
          "text": "We have a lead inspector who has a global overview of the investigation and will have site handback in mind, although we won't leave any stone unturned.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To search or investigate thoroughly."
      ],
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          "search",
          "search"
        ],
        [
          "investigate",
          "investigate"
        ],
        [
          "thoroughly",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To search or investigate thoroughly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
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    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 297",
          "text": "We mean to leave no stone unturned to carry out our intent.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Richard Nixon, “The Awakened Giant”, in 1999: Victory Without War, Simon and Schuster, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258",
          "text": "But we must make it clear that in building our friendship with the Chinese on the mainland we will not sacrifice our Chinese friends on Taiwan. Julian Amery put the issue eloquently: \"It is often necessary and legitimate to abandon causes long supported and to dissolve pledged bonds of alliance. But it is always wrong to abandon men who have been friends to their fate. We may have to jettison their interests but we should leave no stone unturned to save at least their lives.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 March 11, “Australia cancel tour of Pakistan”, in The Guardian, retrieved 2013-05-02",
          "text": "James Sutherland insists Australia had \"no alternative\" but to cancel the tour. \"We have left no stone unturned in trying to ensure the tour could proceed as planned but at the end of the day the safety and security of our employees must come first.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "task",
          "task"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) To perform a task carefully and thoroughly, not missing any step."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-leave no stone unturned.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/e2/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/En-au-leave_no_stone_unturned.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "onder de loep nemen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "etsiä läpikotaisin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "ei jättää yhtään kiveä kääntämättä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "unter die Lupe nehmen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "tűvé tesz"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "fínkemba"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "scag go mion"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "poruszyć niebo i ziemię"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "obivátʹ vse porógi",
      "sense": "search thoroughly",
      "word": "обива́ть все поро́ги"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "word": "tehdä kaikkensa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "word": "tehdä läpikotaisin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "word": "ei jätä yhtään kiveä kääntämättä"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "word": "minden követ megmozgat"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "poruszyć niebo i ziemię"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "kámnja na kámne ne ostávitʹ",
      "sense": "perform a task thoroughly",
      "word": "ка́мня на ка́мне не оста́вить"
    }
  ],
  "word": "leave no stone unturned"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.