Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

of all things en · ADP

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) Especially; more than other things.
  2. (idiomatic, often, used as a sentence adverb) Surprisingly.
    • Mother went a little pale. “Preposterous!” she said. “I don’t know what’s got into you!” She fiddled with her bouffant, almost as if she was nervous. “Your father, in a rock band of all things! First that exercise book full of outrageous stories, and now this!” 2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
    • Well, of all things! Who would have expected him to propose to her on stage?
    • Liverpool needed a break and they got it at the beginning of the second half, from, of all things, a misplaced City pass. Aké was the culprit, undercooking his attempt to go back to Ederson and seeing Núñez steal in. He toed it away from the goalkeeper and was promptly cleaned out by him. 2024 March 10, David Hytner, “Doku involved at both ends as Liverpool and Manchester City share spoils”, in The Guardian:
    • He reached into his pocket and pulled out, of all things, an ice cream cone.
    • “Well, of all things!” cried the equally astonished Jane. “And here I have been wasting whole reams of perfectly good imagination picturing you in Baltimore—the very idea!” And she threw her arms about her friend once more, and kissed her a dozen times. 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 111:

Relateds

of all people · of all · of all places

Translations (9)

pl o dziwo (Surprisingly) · ru кто бы мог поду́мать (Surprisingly) · cmn 偏偏 (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)) · ru и́менно (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)) · pl akurat (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)) · de ausgerechnet (Surprisingly) · ru да ещё и (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)) · ja 事もあろうに (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)) · ja よりによって (more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing))