by all accounts

Idioms & Phrases

by all accounts

Also, according to all accounts. From all reports available, from what everyone is saying. For example, By all accounts the party was a great success, or They spent a fortune on their cruise, according to all accounts. These phrases rely on account in the sense of "a particular report or description of some event." [Late 1700s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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