Phrase guide

whole shebang

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Everything; the entire thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, informal, with-definite-article

Examples

  • The festival had balloons, flowers, fireworks, performers, and the whole shebang.
  • 2002, Treasure Planet, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker Doctor, I'd love to chat. Tea, cake, the whole shebang. But I've got a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all the marbles, bag and baggage, everytang, everything but the galley stove, everything but the kitchen sink, everything under the sun, full monty, hook, line and sinker, kit and caboodle, lock, stock and barrel, the whole bang shoot, the whole nine yards, the works, whole ball of wax, whole hog, whole enchilada, whole kit and caboodle, whole package, whole shebang, whole shitting match, whole shooting match, whole smash

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

everything available; usually preceded by `the'

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • we saw the whole shebang
  • a hotdog with the works
  • we took on the whole caboodle
  • for $10 you get the full treatment

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: whole kit and caboodle, kit and caboodle, whole kit and boodle, kit and boodle, whole kit, whole caboodle, whole works, works, full treatment

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: entirety, entireness, integrality, totality

History

Etymology

Fixed expression from shebang, first attested in the United States from the early 1860s, from which time it has increasingly dominated the uses of "shebang" itself.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: tot plegat — the entire thing
  • Dutch: de hele rataplan — the entire thing
  • Dutch: de hele mikmak — the entire thing
  • Dutch: de hele reutemeteut — the entire thing
  • Dutch: de hele bende — the entire thing
  • Finnish: koko helahoito — the entire thing
  • Finnish: koko repertuaari — the entire thing
  • Finnish: koko roska — the entire thing
  • Finnish: koko hoito — the entire thing
  • Finnish: ihan kaikki — the entire thing
  • French: tout l'attirail — the entire thing
  • French: tout le bataclan — the entire thing
  • Hungarian: hóbelevanc — the entire thing
  • Hungarian: miskulancia — the entire thing
  • Hungarian: minden, ami kell — the entire thing
  • Hungarian: ami csak kell — the entire thing
  • Polish: cały ten kram — the entire thing
  • Russian: всего-то делов (vsevo-to delov) — the entire thing
  • Russian: вот и всё дело (vot i vsjo delo) — the entire thing
  • Russian: вся штука (vsja štuka) — the entire thing
  • Russian: всё и вся (vsjo i vsja) — the entire thing
  • Spanish: todo el tinglado — the entire thing
  • Spanish: tinglado entero — the entire thing
  • Spanish: todo el paquete — the entire thing
  • Spanish: toda la shuntalada — the entire thing
  • Spanish: shuntalada entera — the entire thing
  • Swedish: (hela) rubbet — the entire thing
  • Swedish: hela rasket — the entire thing
  • Swedish: hela klabbet — the entire thing
  • Swedish: allt — the entire thing