all over the place

§English

§Alternative forms

• all over the board
• all over the shop

§Adjective

all over the place (comparative more all over the place, superlative most all over the place)

1. (idiomatic) Inconsistent; lacking a clear pattern; with a large amount of variation.

   I asked each person in turn, and their answers were all over the place.

§Synonyms

• random
• scattershot

§Adverb

all over the place (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Thoroughly; completely.

   I took a big piece of paper and then just painted flowers all over the place.

2. (idiomatic) In multiple directions, sometimes in a random or near random pattern.

   They started firing all over the place.

   I poured a big glass of milk but then it spilled all over the place.

3. everywhere

   In Genoa there are stray cats all over the place.

§Translations

Translations

• German: querbeet, überall (de)
• Bislama: olbaot
• Finnish: kaikkialla, kaikkialle, joka paikassa, joka paikkaan, joka puolella, joka puolelle

• Italian: ovunque (it), dovunque (it), a dritta e a manca, dappertutto (it)
• Turkish: her tarafta, her yerde
• Vurës: atalē
• Walloon: totavå (wa), pattavå (wa)

§Prepositional phrase

all over the place

1. (literally) Covering a location thoroughly or completely.

   When the house caught on fire the firemen came and sprayed water all over the place.

2. (idiomatic) At multiple locations in the vicinity.

   I've been looking for you all over the place.

   When we got to the amusement park we went all over the place.

   The cart fell over and there were apples all over the place.

3. (idiomatic) In multiple directions, sometimes in a random or near random pattern.

   They started firing all over the place.

4. (idiomatic) Lacking a clear pattern; with a large amount of variation.

   I asked each person in turn, and their answers were all over the place.

§Translations

everywhere

• Finnish: ympäriinsä, joka puolella, joka puolelle
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dappertutto (it)

• Russian: повсюду (ru) (povsjúdu)
• Spanish: desperdigado

lacking a clear pattern

• Finnish: mitä sattuu, sitä sun tätä

• Spanish: desperdigado, (sin) patrón (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Thai: ทุกทิศทุกทาง ไม่มีเป้าหมาย

§Synonyms

• (covering a location thoroughly): everywhere
• (at multiple locations):
• (lacking a clear pattern): at random

§Related terms

• all over the map
• all over the shop