different between everything vs anything

English

Alternative forms

• (eye dialect, AAVE): e'rythin', e'rythang, e'rything, ev'ryting, ev'rythang, ev'ythang, ev'rything, ev'ythin', ev'ything, eve'ything, errythin,
• (eye dialect, Caribbean): everytin', everyting
• (eye dialect, Southern US): everytang
• (obsolete): evrything, evrythin

Etymology

every +? thing

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??v?i???/
• Hyphenation: eve?ry?thing or ev?e?ry?thing

Pronoun

everything

1. (literally) All the things under discussion.

2. (colloquial, hyperbolic) Many or most things.

3. (colloquial) A state of well-being (from all parts of the whole).

4. (colloquial) Considerable effort.

   It took everything in me to resist the temptation to skip work on my birthday.

5. (colloquial) The most important thing.

   I can't believe I made it in time - timing is everything!

Synonyms

• all

Antonyms

• nothing

Derived terms

• everything and the kitchen sink
• everything but the kitchen sink
• everything else
• everything under the sun
• if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
• leave everything on the road
• talk about everything under the sun
• theory of everything
• timing is everything

Pages starting with “everything”.

Related terms

• anything
• every
• everybody
• everyone
• everywhere
• nothing
• something

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n.i.???/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /?æ.ni.???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??.n?.???/, /??.ni.???/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /??.n?.???/
• Hyphenation: an?y?thing

Etymology 1

From Middle English anything, enything, onything, from Late Old English aniþing, from earlier ?ni? þing (literally “any thing”), equivalent to any +? thing.

Pronoun

anything

1. Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; a thing of any kind; something or other.

   Synonym: aught
2. (with “as” or “like”) Expressing an indefinite comparison.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

anything (plural anythings)

1. Someone or something of importance.

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English anything, enything, onything, onythynge, from Old English ?ni?e þinga, ?n?i þinga (literally “by any of things”), from ?ni?e, instrumental form of ?ni? (“any”) + þinga, genitive plural of þing (“thing”).

Adverb

anything (not comparable)

1. In any way, any extent or any degree.

   That isn't anything like a car.

   She's not anything like as strong as me.

References

• anything in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Thingyan