by all accounts

prepositional phrase

According to all available accounts or reports.

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. literallyAccording to all available accounts or reports.

    […]and also by all accounts of the surplus which shall from time to time be settled between the new company and the liquidators of the old company[…]

    1881, Francis Beaufort Palmer, Company precedents, for use in relation to companies subject to the Companies acts 1862 to 1880. With copious notes., page 512
  2. idiomaticAccording to everything that people have said.

    I sent the particulars to the ship-builder, and by all accounts the news killed him, for he died not long after.

    2007, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, →ISBN, page 272
    3 more examples

    The reputation of the elder Baron, although by all accounts justly merited, was destined to be completely thrown into the shade by that of his son[…]

    1878, Charles Dickens, All Year Round, page 161

    […]that they say, by all accounts, it costs him great trouble to make, by rason that he must fast a long time, and pray by the day, afore he gets himself[…]

    1887, William Carleton, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, page 302

    The society had apparently been formed the previous year, but as the Cheltenham Spa Railway Society, which sounded rather parochial and unambitious - particularly as (by all accounts) its founders had gathered in a garden shed in the town.

    2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques Cheltenham (1928)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 60

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
by all reportsfrom all accountsfrom all reports

Origin

* First attested in 1798.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish kaikesta päätellen
  • kaikesta päätellenAccording to everything that people have said
French de l'avis général
  • de l'avis généralAccording to everything that people have said
Polish ponoć, rzekomo
  • ponoćAccording to everything that people have said
  • rzekomoAccording to everything that people have said
  • podobnoAccording to everything that people have said
Spanish a decir de todos, a toda luz
  • a decir de todosAccording to everything that people have said
  • a toda luzAccording to everything that people have said
  • a todas lucesAccording to everything that people have said
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

“by all accounts.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20all%20accounts. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by all accounts,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20all%20accounts.

Source: by all accounts on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.