to a man

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English

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Etymology

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From to (indicating a limit reached) + a + man (adult male human; human regardless of gender or sex),[1] indicating that something reaches the extent of every individual person.

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

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to a man

  1. Including every person; without exception; unanimously.
    • 1712 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “WEDNESDAY, July 30, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 444; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, [], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 186:
      There is hardly a man in the world, one would think so ignorant, as not to know that the ordinary quack-doctors, who publish their great abilities in little brown billets, distributed to all who pass by, are to a man impostors and murderers; []
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 2011 February 25, “Building a new Libya”, in The Economist[1], London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-19:
      To a man, Cyrenaica's new landlords insist they are the launchpad for a countrywide liberation, with Tripoli as the capital, not a separatist movement.
    • 2022 November 21, David Hytner, “England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6–2 rout of Iran”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-09:
      [W]ould Iran’s players sing their national anthem, which is seen as a gesture in support of the regime? To a man, the answer was a stony-faced no.

Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ to the last man; to a man” under to, prep., conj., and adv.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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