all-or-nothing

adjective

all-or-noth·​ing

ˌȯl-ər-ˈnə-thiŋ

1

: all-or-none

2

a

: accepting no less than everything

he's an all-or-nothing perfectionist

b

: risking everything

an all-or-nothing combat strategy

Examples of all-or-nothing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Your partnerships tend to be all-or-nothing — or rather, become possessive instead. —Kyle Thomas, Peoplemag, 22 Sep. 2024

Advertisement The offspring don’t have to look far to see that if they are caught and extradited to the U.S., choosing to go to trial is a high-risk, all-or-nothing gamble that rarely ends with walking free. —Keegan Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2024

Their accounts suggest that living in an intentional community isn’t always an all-or-nothing decision, at least for those who don’t plug all their savings into a volatile housing situation. —Christine Ro, Longreads, 17 Sep. 2024

The company had originally planned to make Slack AI an all-or-nothing proposition, meaning customers had to either pay for all their Slack-using employees to use the features or none. —Ina Fried, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1764, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

all-or-nothing

adjective

all-or-noth·​ing -ˈnəth-iŋ 

: all-or-none