Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
written all over it

written all over it

17 5.8
Very easy to see because a feeling or quality shows on someone's face
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : notarse
  • This has my lab written all over it.
  • got written all over it
  • name written all over it
  • catastrophe written all over it

The bottom line was this had failure written all over it.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The whole thing has disaster written all over it.

    Blog text (7)

  • It's got BAFTA written all over it, right?

  • It's got "weapons research" written all over it.

    Spectral (2016)

  • This has Sam written all over it!

    3 Day Test (2012)

  • Now I have a case that has my name written all over it!

    Blog text (12)

  • You know darn well this has White House written all over it.

    Blog text (12)

  • This little dinner you have planned for tonight has got fiasco written all over it.

    Barefoot in the Park (1967)

  • It has bestseller written all over it.

    Labor Pains (2009)

  • Considering this one lands at the very tail end of 2012 (December 19th), it's got 2013 written all over it.

    Blog text (17)

  • The film has award-winning performances written all over it.

Synonyms

obvious
vswritten all over it
∞ 1.0

Easy to see or understand

points to a specific feeling or trait being plainly visible
crystal clear
vswritten all over it
  • Informal
43 2.5

Very easy to understand or hear

emphasizes a specific emotion or trait being plainly visible
writ large
vswritten all over it
  • Formal
5 7.1

Very clear and easy to see

is focused on a specific feeling or trait being plainly visible
glaringly apparent
vswritten all over it
1 3.5

Very clear and hard to miss

is about a particular feeling or trait being clearly visible

Antonyms

ambiguity
57 6.3

A lack of clear meaning that allows people to understand it in different ways

subtlety
54 6.8

A small important detail that is hard to notice

How Obvious

blatant
96 4.5
written all over it
  • Informal
17 5.8
obvious
∞ 1.0
noticeable
65 3.2
subtle
276 6.0

Surface Forms

written all over it main

Morphology

written + all + over + it

The literal words ('written', 'all', 'over') evoke the image of something visibly marked across a surface, so a learner who knows the constituents can plausibly infer the metaphor that a feeling or quality is clearly visible. However, the sense is metaphorical rather than strictly compositional (nothing is literally written), and the exact usage/argument structure is idiomatic, so the meaning is only partially predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Written all over it comes from the idea of words written all over a person's face or an object, so you can 'read' the feeling like a clear message. That's why it means 'very obvious'.