if there ever was one

A form of if ever there was one — Used to emphasize the truth of a characterization.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. alternativeAlternative form of if ever there was one.

    He got so fiendy finally that Mrs. Ford—she’s a dear if there ever was one—went up and put her arms around his neck, so as to stop him by a kiss.

    1915 September, Robert Grant, chapter XXII, in The High Priestess, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 375
    2 more examples

    Besides coming in several hippie-ish colors (i.e. not black) and being almost impossible to cradle under your chin (a harbinger of the cellular miniphone if there ever was one), the single most telling characteristic of the Ericaphone was that it did not ring.

    2003 July 6, Steve Batie, “I can hear buzzing in my ears”, in Lincoln Journal Star, Lincoln, Neb., page 1G

    That's how ugly she was—ugly by virtue of the fact that she was unmemorable, a slab of alabaster awaiting a sculptor who never arrived, a "nothing burger" if there ever was one.

    2000 September, Lucinda Rosenfeld, “Jason Barry Gold, or ‘The Varsity Lacrosse Stud’”, in What She Saw […], New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, Random House, published September 2001, →ISBN, page 60
Cite this entry
APA

if there ever was one. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20there%20ever%20was%20one

MLA

“if there ever was one.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20there%20ever%20was%20one. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “if there ever was one,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20there%20ever%20was%20one.

Source: if there ever was one on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.