one-man band
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A person who performs multiple tasks or roles alone
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Người thực hiện nhiều nhiệm vụ hoặc vai trò một mình
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a single musician playing multiple instruments
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He's a one-man band, handling all the company's operations by himself
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “one-man band” mean?
A person who performs multiple tasks or roles alone Literally: a single musician playing multiple instruments
Is “one-man band” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.