know-everything

noun — 2 senses

know-everything

noun
1

Synonym of know-it-all.

  • There is Mali, there is Guinea, you are about to say— but our loans to Mali and Guinea, my young know-everythings, are like fish to vultures; the stomach remains empty.1984, Dave Godfrey, The new ancestors, page 276:
  • Even with the best screening methods, the loud talkers, the silent ones, and the know-everythings still may show up, for the world is full of these.1998, Albert Blankenship, George Edward Breen, Alan Dutka, State of The Art Marketing Research, →ISBN, page 214:
2 more examples
  • Why is the "know-everything" so afraid of the autonomy of others, and the "know-nothing" so afraid of his own autonomy?2001, Lucille Osterweil, Lifedance: Balancing the Needs of Self and Others, →ISBN, page 34:
  • There is the unthinking no and the thinking no, the negation spoken by the know-nothings, and the negation of the know-everythings.2010, Steven Dillon, The Solaris Effect: Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film, →ISBN, page 141:
2

A highly knowledgeable person; expert.

  • Lots of people are like that in our business, trying to act like complete know-everythings.1981, Lodging Hospitality: LH. - Volume 37, page 116:
  • In the nineteenth century, Twain was the know-everything traveller, who made his homeland seem doubly attractive by so engagingly representing its energy and creativity.1993, The New Yorker, page 85:
2 more examples
  • The guard is being instructed by indoor guard know-everythings and will # about 22 or so1995 March 24, Tessa Timney, “New MD junior corps”, in rec.arts.marching.drumcorps (Usenet):
  • We were the know-everythings about the vast restaurant options in our area.2013 November 19, gtr, “Do you scope out a restaurant?”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet):
Derived terms
know-everythingism

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.