idiom · neutral
pull out all the stops
UK/pʊl aʊt ɔːl ðə stɒps/US/pʊl aʊt ɔl ðə stɑps/pull·out·all·the·STOPS
to do everything possible to make something succeed
Examples
“The school pulled out all the stops to support struggling students.”
“For the graduation ceremony they really pulled out all the stops.”
“Parents pulled out all the stops to raise funds for the trip.”
Band 8 sentence
“To guarantee students' success the department pulled out all the stops, organising extra workshops and one-to-one mentoring.”
Collocations
- pull out all the stops to do something
- pulled out all the stops for/at
Word family
Common mistakes
They pulled all the stops to organise the event.→They pulled out all the stops to organise the event.
The school pulled out all the stop.→The school pulled out all the stops.
Say it for a higher band
5try very hard→6do your best→7+pull out all the stops
Synonyms
spare no effort
go all out
Easily confused
spare no expense
“The university spared no expense when building the new research centre.”
Related words
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In Study
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