Meaning & use
walk all over
Last updated
Meanings
phrasephrasal verbinformal
To treat someone badly by always doing what you want and ignoring their needs or feelings.
Grammar: Takes an object: you walk all over someone. The object usually comes after 'over'.
Patterns
- walk all over someone
He lets his boss walk all over him because he's afraid of losing his job.
Stop walking all over your little sister and let her choose what to watch.
If you never say no, people will walk all over you.
phrasephrasal verbinformal
To defeat an opponent very easily and completely in a game or competition.
Grammar: Takes an object: you walk all over a team or player. Often used in sports reports.
Patterns
- walk all over someone
The champions walked all over the visiting team, winning five–nil.
She walked all over her opponent in the final set.
Common combinations
- let someone walk all over you
- Don't let your colleagues walk all over you just because you're new.
- walk all over someone's feelings
- He walked all over her feelings without even noticing.
- get walked all over
- In that office, the quiet workers get walked all over.
- walk all over the opposition
- The home side walked all over the opposition in the first half.
Synonyms and how they differ
- take advantage of
- This is more formal and focuses on using someone for your own benefit, while 'walk all over' emphasizes treating them badly and ignoring their feelings.
- exploit
- This is stronger and more formal, often used about unfair treatment in work or business; 'walk all over' is informal and personal.
- trample on
- This is a more literary or figurative way to say you treat someone's feelings or rights badly; 'walk all over' is more common in everyday speech.
Opposites
Word family
- walk over phrasal verb
- To treat someone badly or defeat them easily, without 'all'.
Commonly confused: walk all over or walk over?
walk all over vs walk over
Without 'all', 'walk over' can mean to go to someone's place or to defeat easily, but it is less emphatic than 'walk all over'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'walk all over' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Walk all over' means to treat someone badly by ignoring their needs, so sentence B fits. Sentence A uses 'walk all over' to mean physically walking around a place, which is not the idiomatic meaning. Sentence C would need 'walked over to' for movement. Sentence D is not a natural use.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “walk all over”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.