English

Adjective

all-around ‎(not comparable)

1. Able to do many or all things well.
   • 1909, Horace A. Taylor, Tales of Travel All Around the World, page 149:

     He is said to be a greater hunter and an all around sport.

   • 2004, David D. Busch, Digital Photography All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, page 15:

     If you want to polish your reputation as an all-around digital photographer, plan on developing at least a modicum of skill with a decent image editing program.

   • 2005, Frank Zarnowski, All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport, page 98:

     But it was as an all-around performer that Gill established his reputation.

2. Comprehensive in extent.
   • 1994, Larry Moffi, Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 1947-1959, page 18:

     While Willie Mays's famous catch off the bat of Vic Wertz and Dusty Rhodes's clutch hitting are what fans remember most about the 1954 World Series, Thompson was easily the all-around best in those four games.

   • 2009, Ole Fredrik Lillemyr, Taking Play Seriously, page 67:

     Children must be given the opportunity to communicate in an all-around way, using language, drawing, music, drama, play, etc. (hence the expression "a child has a hundred languages").

   • 2014, Xueyuan Tian, The Hope of the Country with a Large Population:

     As mentioned above, the construction of modern population culture is an important and difficult task toward realizing the goal of population development for building a well-off society in an all-around way.

Adverb

all-around ‎(not comparable)

1. Generally, broadly.

   an all-around better player than me‎

   • 1911, The Railroad Telegrapher, volume 28, page 1730:

     Vacation with pay, annual passes, and all around better working conditions.

   • 2005, Christopher Bauer, Better Ethics Now: How to Avoid the Ethics Disaster You Never Saw Coming:

     In addition, be sure to reinforce - as persistently as possible - that addressing questionable behavior makes for an all-around better organization.

   • 2010, Anne T. Romano, Italian Americans in Law Enforcement, page 84:

     He graduated from the Police Academy in 1957 winning the Police Commissioner's Trophy for all around highest scores-academically, physically, and for firearm proficiency.

   • 2013, Holland E. Bynam, On Being a Better You, page 26:

     Collectively, the three sections in this chapter are intended to add to what has gone before regarding personal behavior and to serve as additional food for thought for those attempting to be all-around better people.