From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe all things to all men/peoplebe all things to all men/peopleLIKE somebody OR somethingto try to please or be useful to all of many different groups, often without succeeding In order to get votes, he tries to be all things to all men. → thing
Examples from the Corpus
be all things to all men/people• It is all things to all men ... and this is perhaps its number one axiom.• I finally realized I could not be all things to all people.• No-one is all things to all people, and Anthea is no exception.• Andrea felt tremendous pressure to succeed, to continue to be all things to all people.• Politicians have to be all things to all people.• For years, the stores had managed to be all things to all people.• Anyway, these compendiums try to be all things to all people.• In this sense many of the international firms will try to be all things to all people.• The single truck was all things to all men and women. 