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everything

EV-ree-thing/ˈɛvɹiθɪŋ/

5 meanings of everything

Practice

  1. 1
    all thingspronoun
    All things, or all the things in a particular group or situation; often used loosely to mean a great many things.

    After the meeting, the team reviewed everything that had been proposed.

    The movers carefully loaded everything from the apartment into the truck.

    UsageTakes a singular verb: everything is ready (not incorrect: everything are ready). Often followed directly by a clause: everything you need.

    Similarall

    Oppositenothing

  2. 2
    how things arepronouncolloquial
    The general state of things; all the parts of someone's life or affairs taken together.

    Once the test results came back clear, everything felt right again.

    He kept telling himself everything would be all right by morning.

    UsageOften in set phrases: How's everything?, everything's fine, everything will be all right.

  3. 3
    most importantpronouncolloquial
    The thing that matters more than anything else to someone.

    To him, his music is everything, and he practices for hours each day.

    Money isn't everything, as her grandfather often reminded her.

    UsageUsually mean everything to someone or be everything to someone; X isn't everything says other things matter too.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    all your effortpronouncolloquial
    All of one's effort and energy, given fully to a task or goal.

    The climbers gave everything on the last stretch to the summit.

    She poured everything into rebuilding the family business after the fire.

    UsageUsually give everything, put everything into something, or it took everything (in me) to + verb for great strain.

    Similarall

  2. 5
    verbcolloquial
    Used loosely in place of a set of related verbs, or of any action at all, to stand for doing all of them.
    “ ‘You're right tonight, Boss Man,’ I said. ‘They’re laying it on us.’ “They outswung us, they out-everythinged us.
    2001, Stanley Dance, The World of Swing

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English "every thing," formed by the univerbation (joining into one word) of "every" and "thing."

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  • Everything derives from Middle English 'every thing', through the joining of 'every' and 'thing' into one word. en.wiktionary.org