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by all accounts

by all accounts

27 3.4
According to what most people say about someone or something
  • idiom
translation icon : según todos
  • Mark was very well respected in his unit and was by all accounts a first-rate soldier.

So here you are you're you've been successful by all accounts.

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Examples

  • Lovely little thing, by all accounts.

  • By all accounts, this was a wedding done properly and in an impressive fashion.

    Academic text (2007)
  • And proud of it by all accounts.

  • At least one, by all accounts, was a different and better sort.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • By all accounts, a brilliant investigator.

  • As it turned out, however, the elections by all accounts were fair and untainted.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Obama, a professed Christian, has by all accounts remained faithful to his wife.

    Blog text (2)
  • Jane Addams (1860-1935) remains, by all accounts, the most famous and influential social worker this country has produced.

    Academic text (2007)
  • Patricia Arbuthnot Byron Cockburn (Byron was her first husband's name) was by all accounts a strong, talented woman.

    Academic text (1996)
  • By all accounts, the event was a huge success, attracting more visitors than expected.

Synonyms

reportedly
vsby all accounts
  • Literature
234 3.7

As people or the news say

is used when many people or all reports say the same

How Subjective

according to
1.0
by all accounts
27 3.4
objectively
61 4.5

Surface Forms

by all accounts positive

Morphology

by + all + account

The phrase can be transparently derived from its parts: 'by' here marks source/authority (as in 'according to'), 'all' means everyone/every report, and 'accounts' means reports or testimony — together yielding 'according to all reports'. This is a common English composition pattern (by + source) with clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows the words would likely infer the meaning.

Etymology

By all accounts may come from the old use of accounts to mean 'reports' or 'stories', so imagine many people or reports all saying the same thing. That's why by all accounts means 'according to what everyone says'.