All-around

adj, adv, noun

adj, adv, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A gymnastic event featuring several individual exercises. Canada, US, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Able to do many or all things well. Canada, US, idiomatic, not-comparable

    "He is said to be a greater hunter and an all around sport."

  2. 2
    Comprehensive in extent. Canada, US, idiomatic, not-comparable

    "While Willie Mays's famous catch off the bat of Vic Wertz and Dusty Rhodes's clutch hitting are what fans remember most about the 1954 World Series, Thompson was easily the all-around best in those four games."

Adjective
  1. 1
    many-sided wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Generally, broadly. Canada, US, idiomatic, not-comparable

    "an all-around better player than me"

Synonyms

All synonyms
accessibleadaptableadjustableall-roundambidextrousamphibious

Example

More examples

"Tom is a terrific all-around athlete."

Etymology

From all- + around, compare all-round.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.