all singing, all dancing

adjective

Having many features, options or extras; sometimes used ironically to imply that the added features are just gimmicks.

Meanings

adjectiveall singing, all dancing (not comparable)

alternative all-singing, all-dancing · alternative all-singing-and-dancing

  1. not comparableHaving many features, options or extras; sometimes used ironically to imply that the added features are just gimmicks.

    In fact, an all-singing, all-dancing DSGE model implies that relative to zero, a 2 percent inflation target costs the economy roughly $385 billion every year.

    2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, page 228
    1 more example

    This is why we need a major relaunch of the railways. Not some half-hearted campaign such as "Britain runs on rail", but an all out, all-singing, all-dancing campaign to get people to use the railways again: to rediscover the benefits of train travel and learn to trust them once again.

    2020 July 29, Christian Wolmar, “Why this crisis calls for a railway crusade like no other”, in Rail, page 44

Origin

From the advertising posters used to promote the 1929 film The Broadway Melody – Hollywood’s first all-talking musical (as opposed to partially talking, partially silent) – which proclaimed the film to be “All Talking All Singing All Dancing” – see film poster. In full, the poster reads: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER’S ALL TALKING ALL SINGING ALL DANCING PICTURE THE BROADWAY MELODY

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

all singing, all dancing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20singing%2C%20all%20dancing

MLA

“all singing, all dancing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20singing%2C%20all%20dancing. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “all singing, all dancing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20singing%2C%20all%20dancing.

Source: all singing, all dancing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.