all-hands-on-deck

adjective

: of, relating to, or being a situation in which every available person is needed or called to assist

an all-hands-on-deck effort

"Overwhelmingly the response I heard is that we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to stopping the spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin," [Governor Tony] Evers said.—

Scott Bauer

Examples of all-hands-on-deck in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

For this reason, solving the homeless challenges in the state will require an all-hands-on-deck approach. —

Larry J. Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2026 Producing that show must be an all-hands-on-deck thing for the guild? —

Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 6 Feb. 2026 Caring for him is a full-time, all-hands-on-deck operation that includes in-home nurses, physical and occupational therapy, school support and a small pharmacy’s worth of medications. —

Josephine Rios, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026 The alert, the highest level on OpenAI’s three-point scale, is essentially an all-hands-on-deck call to mobilize and defend against an imminent threat. —

Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 5 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for all-hands-on-deck

Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of all-hands-on-deck was in 1935

See more words from the same year

Browse Nearby Words

all-hands

all-hands-on-deck

allheal

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Cite this Entry

Style

“All-hands-on-deck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/all-hands-on-deck. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.

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