Phrase guide

whole shooting match

noun · 1 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 collection, endeavor, or activity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

Examples

  • It started raining on their picnic and they had to move the whole shooting match inside.

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

History

Etymology

Compare whole shitting match. Perhaps that term is a vulgarization of this term, or this term is a bowdlerization of that term.