across the board
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Applying to all.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Quality in business in the nineties means getting things right first time, every time, right across the board.
This does not mean, however, that young children are realists ‘ across the board’.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Equivalents & related
Near equivalent
xát muối vào vết thương
to add insult to injury
Tiếng Việt
Near equivalent
add insult to injury
Make a bad situation worse.
English · via xát muối vào vết thương
Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.
Common questions
What does “across the board” mean?
Applying to all.
Is “across the board” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“xát muối vào vết thương” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.