Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who knows or professes to know everything; a wiseacre: generally used ironically.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Colloq. or R. One who knows everything; hence, one who makes pretension to great knowledge; a wiseacre; a know-it-all; -- usually ironical.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chiefly UK Alternative form of
know-it-all .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun someone who thinks he knows everything and refuses to accept advice or information from others
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word know-all.
Examples
-
All the musicians looked up to Frank as being the Leonard Bernstein of rock – the know-all.
Alice Cooper and Noel Fielding talk rock'n'roll, drink, drugs and golf 2012
-
And, among the contestants, David Fynn as the bumptious know-all, Hayley Gallivan as a lovelorn loser and Harry Hepple as the guy with the erectile issues make their mark.
-
There's not much you can do about the know-all, however, a far more frustrating prospect.
Pain of watching sport that I will never die happy | Emma John 2011
-
✒I wasn't really aware of Andy Gray until this week; there was a sort of hectoring know-all in the background of football games on Sky, but if I was actually interested in the result I'd turn the sound off and listen to Radio 5 Live, which is dry, droll and doesn't treat every foul as if it were the invasion of Poland.
Simon Hoggart's week: Thinking aloud? Don't be an idiot 2011
-
"Well, they CAN, Richard," in that irritating know-all tone Gray has.
Liverpool's European Losers Cup outing is enough to make ad men mad | Martin Kelner 2011
-
Ask yourself who is the worst person you've had to watch sport with, and they will quite naturally align into one of two types: the know-nothing and the know-all.
Pain of watching sport that I will never die happy | Emma John 2011
-
This self-satisfied know-all was insisting that information about the children involved in the latest torture scandal mustn't be made public, in order to protect both victims and perpetrators.
-
Yea I know-all the "maximized" worthless processes have about made me throw in the towel!
Launching the 21st Century American Aerospace Workforce - NASA Watch 2008
-
Constructive criticism people, not pompous know-all attitude.
The Tail Section » Your Voice: Why ‘Lost’ is the Greatest Story Ever Told 2008
-
But Barker? as the show's know-all, know-nothing pawnshop assistant, dispensing gnomic advice about women and America? appears in almost every episode and is (alongside fellow standups Kristen Schaal and Rhys Darby) one-fifth of the idiosyncratic quintet that made the show so kookily enjoyable.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.