to a man en · ADP
Pronunciation
- /tuː‿ə ˈmæn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /tuː‿ə ˈmæn/ (General-American)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
From to (“indicating a limit reached”) + a + man (“adult male human; human regardless of gender or sex”), indicating that something reaches the extent of every individual person.
Meanings
-
Including every person; without exception; unanimously.
To a man, Cyrenaica's new landlords insist they are the launchpad for a countrywide liberation, with Tripoli as the capital, not a separatist movement.
2011 February 25, “Building a new Libya”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2023:[W]ould Iran’s players sing their national anthem, which is seen as a gesture in support of the regime? To a man, the answer was a stony-faced no.
2022 November 21, David Hytner, “England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6–2 rout of Iran”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Aug 2023:There is hardly a man in the world, one would think so ignorant, as not to know that the ordinary quack-doctors, who publish their great abilities in little brown billets, distributed to all who pass by, are to a man impostors and murderers; […]
1712 August 9 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, July 30, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 444; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 186: