all or nothing
No middle ground
All or nothing describes a situation or approach where complete success is the only acceptable outcome—partial results won't do.
The phrase often characterizes risky strategies, ultimatums, or personality types: It's an all-or-nothing gamble.
Someone with an all-or-nothing mentality refuses to compromise or accept half measures.
- binaryConsisting of two parts
- extremeFurthest from moderate
- absoluteTotal, without qualification
- gambleStake on uncertain outcome
- riskPossibility of harm
wager · bet · betting the farm · zero-sum · winner take all · sink or swim · ultimatum · totality · complete · drastic · radical · go big or go home · double down · jackpot · bust · commitment · plunge · threshold
- Either/Oryes or no, true or false, on or off, in or out, up or down
- No turning backpoint of no return, Rubicon, burn bridges, crossed the line, committed
- false dilemmasfalse dilemma, false dichotomy, false choice, black-and-white thinking, binary thinking
- decisionschoice, make a decision, choices, yes, no
- desperate measureslast resort, desperate plea, desperation move, last ditch, last chance
- Risk-Takingplaying with fire, rolling the dice, taking chances, living on the edge, going for broke
all or nothingincremental
Proceeding by small additions
gradual · step by step · piecemeal · bit by bit · little by little
all or nothinghedged
Avoided definite commitment
cautious · conservative · risk-averse · moderate · balanced
all or nothingnuanced
Having fine distinctions
shades of gray · graduated · flexible · relativistic · dialectical