Meanings
- idiomaticEspecially; more than other things.
- idiomaticoftenSurprisingly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out, of all things, an ice cream cone.
4 more examples
Well, of all things! Who would have expected him to propose to her on stage?
“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 111Mother 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, →ISBNLiverpool 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
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 偏偏
- 偏偏 (piānpiān)more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
German ausgerechnet
- ausgerechnetSurprisingly
Japanese よりによって, 事もあろうに
- よりによって (yori ni yotte)more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
- 事もあろうに (koto mo arō ni)more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
Polish akurat, o dziwo
- akuratmore than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
- o dziwoSurprisingly
Russian и́менно, да ещё и
- и́менно (ímenno)more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
- да ещё и (da ješčó i)more than other things, especially, exactly (that thing)
- кто бы мог поду́мать (kto by mog podúmatʹ)Surprisingly
Cite this entry
of all things. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/of%20all%20things
“of all things.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/of%20all%20things. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “of all things,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/of%20all%20things.
Source: of all things on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.