all over the place

Idioms and Phrases

Also, all over town or the world . See under all over , def. 1.

Related Words

• haphazardly
• randomly

More About All Over The Place

What does all over the place mean?

All over the place is a phrase that can either mean everywhere or disorganized.

All over the place is used as a synonym of everywhere to refer to an entire area or every possible location, as in I dropped the bucket and water spilled all over the place. 

In this sense, all over the place is a variation of the shorter phrase all over and is used similarly to phrases like all over town and all over the world.

All over the place is also used to mean that something or someone is chaotic or disorganized, as in The weather this week has been all over the place, going from sunny to severe thunderstorms to blizzards. 

Example: The clowns were throwing pies all over the place and made a mess of the circus ring.

Where does all over the place come from?

The first records of the “all over” sense of all over the place come from around 1719. The first records of the “disorganized” sense of all over the place came later.

Both meanings of all over the place are commonly used. When referring to physical locations, all over the place is often used in exaggerations to emphasize how widespread or long-ranging something is. You might describe seeing ants all over the place if you see ants in multiple rooms, for example.

If your teacher thinks your essay is disorganized, they might say it’s all over the place. You might use all over the place to play up how disorganized or hectic something seemed to be. For example, when you have homework in every subject and jump from assignment to assignment to get it all done, you might feel like you’re all over the place.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to all over the place?

• all over town (variation)
• all over the world (variation)

What are some synonyms for all over the place?

• everywhere
• widespread
• chaotic
• disorganized
• random

What are some words that share a root or word element with all over the place? 

• all over
• all 
• over
• the 
• place

What are some words that often get used in discussing all over the place?

• everywhere
• disorganized
• chaos

How is all over the place used in real life?

All over the place is a common phrase that describes things that are either seemingly everywhere or are extremely disorganized.

Bill and Ted Face the Music: It was all over the place and made absolutely no sense. But I enjoyed very much! 😀

— David Tag (@davidtagactor) September 21, 2020

Do you mean to tell me that nowhere in my car is a random bobby pin that I can use, but at my house I find them all over the place?! #rude

— Ciara D'Anella (@ciara_danella) November 23, 2019

Why is it when you get a new car you see them all over the place but before that they never existed? 🤔

— Stacy Peralta (@hgage24) July 30, 2020

Try using all over the place!

Is all over the place used correctly in the following sentence?

His rambling speech was all over the place, and nobody was sure what point he was trying to make.