Overall

How to spell overall

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce overall

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does overall mean?

1. adjectiveConsidering or including everything; total.
2. adverbTaking everything into account; in general.
3. nounA loose protective coat or garment worn over ordinary clothes while working.

Overall in a sentence

• adjective

  The overall cost of the renovation came to twelve thousand pounds.

• adverb

  Overall, the project finished ahead of schedule and under budget.

• noun

  The painter pulled a paint-spattered overall over his shirt before starting.

• adjective

  Managers reviewed the overall performance of the team last quarter.

• adverb

  The hotel was noisy, but overall the trip was a success.

• noun

  Each mechanic was issued a clean overall at the start of the shift.

Where does overall come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound, built from two very old Anglo-Saxon words: 'over', from Old English 'ofer' meaning 'above' or 'across', and 'all', from Old English 'eall' meaning 'the whole' or 'every part'. Put together, the literal sense is 'over the whole thing', and that idea of covering everything is the thread that runs through all its modern uses. As an adverb and adjective it came to mean 'taken as a whole' or 'in general', considering the total rather than the parts. As a noun it named a garment worn 'over all' one's ordinary clothes to protect them, a use that grew popular with workers and labourers in the nineteenth century. Because both halves are common everyday words, the only real spelling question is whether to double the 'l', and the answer is yes: 'all' keeps its two letters inside the compound.

How the word is built

• over- (above, across the whole)
• all (the entire amount)