all.
Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
Meaning & usage
Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
All contestants must register for the footrace: we've arranged numbers for them all.
List all books of which you were the sole or co-author.
Throughout the whole of (a stated period of time; generally used with units of a day or longer).
The store is open all day and all night.
I’ve been working on this all year.
Only; alone; nothing but.
He's all talk; he never puts his ideas into practice.
Any.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
Everything.
Some gave all they had.
She knows all and sees all.
Everyone.
A good time was had by all (of you/us/them).
We all enjoyed the movie.
The only thing(s).
All that was left was a small pile of ash.
We ate potatoes and ziti .... that's all.
Used after who, what, where, how and similar words, either without changing their meaning, or indicating that one expects that they cover more than one element, e.g. that "Who all attended?" is more than one person. (Some dialects only allow this to follow some words and not others.)
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
Wholly; entirely; completely; totally.
She was sitting all alone. It suddenly went all quiet. I'm all done, Mommy! I did it all by myself.
Apiece; each.
The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.
So much; used with "the" and a comparative.
Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.
If he leave the company, I'll have to work all the harder.
Even; just.
A quotative particle, compare like.
She was all, “Whatever.”
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
Everything that one is capable of.
She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.
The totality of one's possessions.
she therefore ordered Jenny to pack up her alls and begone, for that she was determined she should not sleep that night within her walls. […] I packed up my little all as well as I could, and went off.
Everything in general; all that matters.
I will die fighting for my people, because my people are all.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
Although.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
All gone; dead.
The butter is all.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).
Try it on your idea.
all has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.