six ways to Sunday
idiom

- thoroughly or completely; in every possible way; from every conceivable angle

Farlex Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The exact origin is uncertain, but the phrase appears to have emerged in American English in the late 19th or early 20th century. The earliest documented uses date to around the 1900s-1910s.

It likely refers to the seven days of the week, with Sunday as the endpoint. So “six ways to Sunday” suggests covering all routes or angles leading to the same conclusion. It’s a way of saying something has been turned inside out, looked at from all sides, or experienced thoroughly.

An alternative theory suggests it may relate to the six days of creation in Genesis, with Sunday (the seventh day) representing completion or rest, thus covering all possibilities up to the point of completion.

"Six ways to Sunday" is often used with a tone of exaggeration, humour, or frustration.


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SUNDAY IDIOMS

Sunday driver = a slow, often annoying driver who seems to drive as if they’re out for a lazy Sunday cruise.

Sunday best = one’s finest clothes, traditionally worn to church on Sunday.

A month of Sundays = an impossibly long time; forever.

Sunday painter = an amateur artist who paints as a hobby rather than professionally, typically someone with another full-time job.

Sunday sermon = a lengthy, moralizing lecture or speech, often boring or preachy. Derives from long church sermons that test congregants' patience.

Sunday picnic = Something easy, pleasant, or effortless. Often used in the negative: "It's no Sunday picnic" meaning it's difficult or challenging.

Six ways to Sunday = doing something thoroughly or looking at it from every possible angle.

Sunday's child = someone born on Sunday, traditionally believed to be blessed with good fortune according to the classic English nursery rhyme "Monday's child” that assigns characteristics to children based on the day of the week they were born:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go, 
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

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SYNONYMS

all over creation, all over the map, all over the place, all the way, all the while, all ways to sunday, any which way, backwards and forwards, body and soul, by every means, completely, comprehensively, every conceivable way (nook and cranny, which way), exhaustively, extensively,  from a to z (alpha to omega, beginning to end, coast to coast, cradle to grave, end to end, every conceivable angle, every direction, head to foot, head to toe, here to kingdom come, here to sunday, here to timbuktu, pillar to post, soup to nuts, start to finish, from stem to stern, the ground up, tip to toe, top to bottom), hammer and tongs, high and low, in all ways, in detail, in every aspect (direction, possible way, respect, way), inside out, intensively, left right and centre, lock stock and barrel, painstakingly, root and branch, SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY, the full monty, the whole enchilada, the whole hog, the whole kit and caboodle, the whole nine yards, the whole shebang, thoroughly, through and through, to the hilt (the limit, the max, to the nth degree), totally, up and down, up one side and down the other, utterly, whole hog, with a fine-tooth comb

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation today, say something like:

"We analyzed that problem SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY and still couldn’t find a solution.”

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