Meaning of Idiom “Every Little Thing”
Every little thing means everything; every detail or every part. This expression is usually used to say that someone is paying too much attention to every single detail, even the smallest ones, and that this is unnecessary and unhelpful. It is not exclusive to this usage, though.
The informal greeting “How’s every little thing” is used to ask someone how every detail of their life is going. But, in reality, it is a phatic greeting similar to “How are you” and is simply meant to be friendly and show an interest in someone’s wellbeing. The person asking is not actually expecting to be informed about every aspect of someone’s life.
A common variation, used to add emphasis is “every last little thing.”
Sentence Examples
“You are stressing out about every little thing. Calm down. All that stuff will work itself out.”
“You can’t cover all the bases in one book. If you try to write about every little thing possible, your book will become less useful, not more.”
“It’s gotten to where every little thing she does annoys me.”
“You complain about every little thing. You’re never happy. You always hate everything. I think the problem is you, not the rest of the world.”
“Every little thing she does is magic. Every little thing just turns me on.” — Gordon Matthew Sumner (1981)
“Don’t worry about a thing. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.” — Bob Marley, Three Little Birds (1977)
“Sitting around looking out of the window to kill time is one thing, but doing it the way you are with binoculars and wild opinions about every little thing you see is diseased!” — Rear Window (1954)
All you do is fight, or you don’t fight, which is even worse because it looks like you hate each other for weeks. You obsess over every little thing I do, and you don’t trust in me or believe in me.” This Is 40 (2012)
“I learned from women. I have a sister, her name’s Diane. She was always on my case about every little thing. Matter of fact, she still is. Turn down that radio! You eat the last piece of cake?” — Coach Carter (2005)
Origin
Used since at least the mid-1800s.